Cleveland Indians Hopefully Won’t Need Carlos Santana in the Outfield in 2017

The Cleveland Indians used Carlos Santana in the outfield during the World Series, but he hopefully won’t be needed out there this season.

The Cleveland Indians faced the familiar problem faced by American League teams in the World Series. They had a player they wanted in the lineup, but there was seemingly no spot for him in the field.

Terry Francona decided to fix the problem by putting Carlos Santana out in left field. In hindsight, he could have just played first base, as Mike Napoli struggled throughout the series.

Regardless, Santana played in left and did not make any mistakes, making him a legitimate option to play the position in 2017. But for now, there are no plans to put him out there, according to Jordan Bastian of Indians.com.

It is nice to have the flexibility of putting Santana in the outfield, but his presence out there at any point during the season means something has gone horribly wrong. Namely, it means Michael Brantley is not healthy.

So when Francona says it is not in the plans, he means he has a set outfield, which includes Brantley and Brandon Guyer playing in left field.

If the Indians do once again reach the World Series, Santana may not be in the starting lineup in National League home games if Brantley is healthy.

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But Indians fans know that anything can happen, especially with the uncertainty surrounding Brantley. Injuries can also occur to anyone during the course of the season, so it would be unfair to say Santana has no shot of playing any left field this season.

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Yet the only instance in which he would do so would be in the World Series, and the Indians have a lot of work to do to make it back. Francona knows that, and is just taking it one day at a time, focusing on the players he currently has slotted into specific positions.