Cleveland Indians: The catchers are once again a liability on offense

The Cleveland Indians have not gotten much production on offense from the team’s two catchers, which is something that hasn’t changed since 2016.

The Cleveland Indians tried to make a splash at last year’s trade deadline by bringing in Jonathan Lucroy, and fans are now seeing why.

After a 2016 season in which Indians catchers struggled while dealing with injuries, Yan Gomes and Roberto Perez came into this season healthy and looking to change the narrative. That has not happened.

Gomes’ 0-5 night on Tuesday highlighted his start to the year, in which he is slashing .228/.315/.376. He isn’t doing horrible, but he certainly isn’t an effective piece of the lineup.

Then there is Perez, who has only played in 27 games this season. However, his slash line of .159/.235/.216 is painful to look at even if he is only playing a few times a week.

Both are exceptional on defense, but there becomes a point when the liability on offense becomes too much to handle. Unfortunately, there may not be an easy, automatic fix other than one of the two going on an offensive tear.

Gomes is under contract through at least 2019, while Perez signed an extension before the season began that has him under contract through at least 2020.

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After missing out on Lucroy and letting Tony Wolters go in 2016, the Indians committed to Gomes and Perez to carry the position. Well, at least until Francisco Mejia is ready for the majors.

With the contracts of the two catchers, the only way a trade would work is if the Indians and another team swapped catchers, but it’s not easy to sell such a deal when the player the Indians offer up is of lesser value than the one from the other team.

Prospects would need to be included, and the market isn’t filled with enough available talent for the Indians to make such a move with Mejia waiting in the wings.

Mejia was actually offered up in the Lucroy deal a year ago, but hopefully the veto was a sign for the front office that they should just wait for Mejia to arrive before making any drastic changes.

I wouldn’t count out the front office making calls to inquire about catchers around the league, but bringing in a new starting catcher at the latter end of the year could have adverse effects on the pitching staff, which is something that scared me last year when the attempted Lucroy deal was announced.

Next: Indians draft recap

For right now, Gomes and Perez remain liabilities on offense, but neither are going anywhere. Unless a team is dying to acquire one of the two, fans have to hope they turn it around sometime soon.