Cleveland Indians: Should Cody Allen’s spring be a concern?

Cleveland Indians’ closer Cody Allen didn’t exactly make us feel confident last season–and this spring isn’t helping matters. Should we be concerned?

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For the

, the pitching has been a constant over the last few seasons. In 2016, it should be an even bigger force with one of the top rotations in the league at their disposal. While we wait and see what the offense will bring back with them from Goodyear, the bullpen will have some new faces as well. But outside of those new faces will be Cody Allen, who returns as the full-time closer for his third season.

Allen has saved 58 games over the past two seasons while blowing just eight total games (four over each of the last two years). While those numbers are impressive, there’s been more than a few times he’s made Tribe fans uneasy in late-inning situations. But his spring numbers aren’t helping which begs the question of concern of Allen in the closer’s role.

His spring has not alleviated any of the concerns that some had following the 2015 season. His 8.59 ERA in 7 1/3 innings of work won’t cure any ills, even though many may be going a bit overboard when calling for Allen’s head. But having a consistent back-end is going to be critical for a team that isn’t forecasted to score a lot of runs. So can Allen be trusted with late leads?

Allen posted a FIP (Fielding Independent Pitching) of 1.82 last season, a 1.17 difference from his ERA of 2.99. His numbers actually improved, especially in his ability to keep the ball in the yard. After allowing seven home runs in 2014, he allowed just two last season. His walk and strikeout totals remained close to the same, but he had a few more wild pitches with 9, compared to four the previous season.

So what was it that made so many Indians’ fans worry when Allen came into games? When it coes to the “eye test”, he at times didn’t look as sharp, and often worse in games that he entered in non-save situations.

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In July and August, he did manage to save 14 games while only blowing two, but he allowed a run in seven of his 24 appearances. I know, that’s not terrible–but it’s far from lockdown status too. When someone has a good spring, we want to read more into it than we should. And when they struggle–it’s just Spring Training, nothing to worry about. So where does Allen fall in?