Cleveland Indians: Michael Brantley just needs to stay healthy

Cleveland Indians fans know Michael Brantley can be great once again, but he just needs to stay healthy for an entire season.

There are some Cleveland Indians fans who remain upset that the team picked up Michael Brantley‘s option for the 2018 season.

I personally don’t believe doing this meant no money was available to retain Carlos Santana or Jay Bruce, but the anger also comes from the fact Brantley hasn’t played an entire season since 2015.

Brantley was actually an All-Star in 2017, which some fans may forget when remembering his season. He appeared in 90 regular season games and three postseason games.

The outfielder dealt with some small ailments early in the year, but things turned disastrous on August 8 against the Colorado Rockies when Brantley went to the ground out in left field. The ankle injury kept him out until the last series of the regular season.

But in a somewhat good way, the injury may have pushed the front office to get Jay Bruce. It’s interesting how things work out like that sometimes.

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Brantley leaves a particularly bad tastes in the mouths of some fans because of how he performed in the 2017 ALDS after missing the 2016 postseason entirely. He went 1-11 against the Yankees, but to be fair he should have not even been on the postseason roster.

Terry Francona is loyal to his veteran players, but Brantley wasn’t ready to help the team after just returning from the disabled list.

The most frustrating thing about Brantley is that it’s not like he has been injured every season of his career.

He played in at least 114 games in every season from 2011-2015, with 2016 being the first year he dealt with a major injury that caused him to miss nearly the whole season. The veteran is also a two-time All-Star and won a Silver Slugger Award in 2014.

And before he got injured, Brantley was having a solid 2017 season. He slashed .299/.357/.444, all three of those marks being above his career averages.

Picking up his 2018 option shows that the front office is confident in Brantley returning at full health, but it is an expensive $12 million gamble. However, it will be a bargain if he stays healthy. With a career slash line of .292/.349/.423, the Indians are getting an above-average player in left field who could easily be an All-Star once again.

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It may be foolish to still have faith, but if Brantley deals with injuries again he will be gone after the season anyway, so there’s nothing wrong with a little bit of optimism.