Cleveland Indians: Depth will be challenged with Bradley Zimmer injury

Bradley Zimmer’s injury late Sunday night hurts the Cleveland Indians’ depth, but the team has enough depth to overcome his absence without skipping a beat come October.

The Cleveland Indians are currently on a historic win streak. Their story is sending shock waves through the baseball world as they march toward the 2002 Oakland Athletics’ 20-game win streak that sparked the Moneyball era.

It has been all smiles (literally) in Cleveland of late, as regardless the lineup and pitcher, the Tribe are rolling.

Then the Baseball Gods decided that a sacrifice needed to take place. Enter Bradley Zimmer.

The injury took place on a headfirst slide into first base, and was both parts ugly and unnecessary. It was reported immediately after the game that Zimmer did indeed break his hand on the slide.

While the situation itself calling for a headfirst slide is rather subjective, there’s no doubt it was unnecessary in nature. It was late in a 3-2 game with only a runner on second, so sliding headfirst into first base just seems like a risk Bradley Zimmer didn’t need to take.

Perseverance of the streak is necessary, sure, but the bigger picture at hand, this game didn’t mean all that much. Having Bradley Zimmer in October means more.

It’s easy to sit and look back in hindsight and question things with some revisionist history. Zimmer makes it in safe without Chris Davis’ foot being in the way, we are probably lauding his hustle, and asking a player to change his style of play in the moment due to situational awareness is always a challenge. You live and you learn, and I’m sure Zimmer will probably choose a different route to first next time.

The rest of 2017 coming without Zimmer seems to be the expectation. As Dr. Brandon Bowers (a man you should follow on Twitter for Indians injury updates) noted last night in regard to Zimmer’s hand injury, it doesn’t look good.

An average of 62 days missed most likely means Zimmer won’t be able to return for the playoffs. The injury, both in timing and nature, are reminiscent to Carlos Carrasco breaking his fifth metacarpal last year in September – it ended Carrasco’s year in 2016.

The silver lining here for the Indians lies in the fact that Zimmer isn’t quite as important as Carrasco was to the 2016 Indians. Center field can be handled by the like of Austin Jackson and Lonnie Chisenhall.

Production at the plate has been poor from Zimmer post All-Star break – .196/.275/.318 slash with 3 HR/14RBI, 56K/14BB, 53 wRC+, 33 K%.

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Those numbers can be improved upon drastically with Jackson and Chisenhall getting the most consistent at-bats in his absence.

Zimmer’s value come October was always best served as a defensive replacement and pinch-runner. Despite some miraculous catches, Zimmer only ranks 13th among qualifying center fielders in defensive runs saved.

He is a plus center fielder, no arguing that, but his defensive production can be nearly covered by the likes of Austin Jackson or even Greg Allen if need be.

Allen is another key name to consider when the playoff rosters come into focus. Many within the organization consider Allen to be the better true center fielder, and the hope is that he can closely replicate Zimmer’s abilities in center field when called upon. Allen can also fill Zimmer’s shoes on the base paths as that late-inning pinch runner when needed.

Losing Bradley Zimmer hurts. He is a gifted player who has been a true joy to watch in Cleveland in his rookie season. He is a staple of the future for the Tribe as they have a young core that is going to keep the Indians in contention for plenty of years to come.

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Losing him for the 2017 playoff run isn’t ideal, but with how things are going of late, it’s tough to be down for too long. The depth with play a key factor here, and the Indians have plenty of that to help pick up the slack come October.