Cleveland Indians down to No. 11 in ESPN power rankings

The Cleveland Indians remain atop the American League Central division. However, the team continues to hover around the .500 mark.

I find myself remaining optimistic when it comes to the Cleveland Indians.

The team enters play today with a record of 20-20, which is good enough for first in the incredibly weak American League Central division.

The problem is that the bullpen remains a glaring problem and every single day that passes, there seems to be a new complaint about a member of the ‘pen.

The current state of things has the Indians down to No. 11 overall in ESPN’s latest edition of MLB power rankings. From the article:

"You can’t really blame the offense anymore for the Indians’ failure to break out beyond .500; over the past four weeks they’re second in MLB in runs scored per game (5.6). Unfortunately, the pitching staff chose this same time to struggle, giving up five runs per game, with the bullpen especially scuffling with an MLB-worst 6.38 ERA in that span. Nobody is excused from that failure — from closer Cody Allen to long reliever Dan Otero, almost every reliever not named Andrew Miller has had issues."

The game that really made this problem stand out came last Friday when a 9-4 lead over the Royals led to a 10-9 defeat. Fans both at home and at the stadium were stunned on a night when a victory seemed like a sure thing.

It is fair to say that the bullpen has been overachieving the past few years, but that doesn’t mean the front office shouldn’t seek upgrades as soon as possible. Time to scour the market and find those players who are in the midst of overachieving in 2018.

We have looked at some external options, along with some internal options to improve the bullpen. Unfortunately, the front office may continue to hold off on any moves until we get closer to the trade deadline.

That is, unless things get so bad they can’t possibly hold steady.

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Power rankings in May aren’t all that important, but it is not great to see the division-leading Indians all the way down at No. 11. And after Monday’s rough loss in Detroit, all fans can do is hope the bullpen gets it together this week and helps the team rise up in the rankings.