Cleveland Indians: Michael Brantley undergoes yet another surgery

Cleveland Indians outfielder Michael Brantley underwent ankle surgery at a time when his future with the team remains in question.

Cleveland Indians fans witnessed Michael Brantley return to his All-Star form in 2017. Then came his ankle injury in August.

Brantley missed much of August and September, but was a surprise addition to the postseason roster. He wasn’t expected to start, but an injury to Edwin Encarnacion put Brantley in the starting lineup when he clearly wasn’t back to being his usual self.

The main story surrounding him now deals with the $12 million club option for him in 2018, and that situation got a bit more complicated with some news reported today.

First off, this news may be frustrating to some fans because it seems odd to have Brantley on the postseason roster if he needed surgery. Even if he was only there to pinch hit, it doesn’t make sense because him being hurt made him a weak spot in the lineup whenever he came to the plate.

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When it comes to that $12 million option, it doesn’t seem like the front office will pick it up if he can’t even get back to baseball activities until spring training begins. And that is the low end of the estimated recovery time.

It should only be a matter of time before the decision is made to decline the option, as I don’t even think Brantley can get that money on the open market based on his health issues.

A one-year, incentive-based offer of anywhere from $2-4 million seems reasonable, if the Indians want to keep him around in the first place.

It is entirely possible that the front office decides to make a big offer to Jay Bruce and even a smaller offer to Austin Jackson, making Brantley expendable.

Next: A look at the in-house free agents

It isn’t easy to see a fan favorite with so much potential be let go, but the injury problems make it tough to commit too much money to Brantley.