Cleveland Indians: Danny Salazar appears to be done for good

Cleveland Indians fans have waited years for a healthy Danny Salazar to return. Unfortunately, it looks like that will never happen.

Danny Salazar won my heart in 2013 when he started the American League Wild Card Game. I still swear it was the loudest game I have ever been to.

At least in the first inning.

It was Salazar’s first season with the team and he was given the nod in the Cleveland Indians‘ return to the postseason. He did his job. The offense just let him down.

That performance was what should have been the start of a promising and dominant run with the team. Instead, Salazar’s tenure has mostly been about him returning to full health.

He has dealt with injuries during this recent stretch of dominance by the Indians and he didn’t make a single appearance in 2018. He returned to the mound for one start in 2019, only to pitch through terrible pain before leaving the team again.

Now this:

This is a recurring theme with Salazar and I feel terrible for him. The good news is that he has made nearly $10 million over the last two seasons without having to do much on the field. But the physical and mental toll the past two years have taken on him is nothing to joke about.

He is surely done in an Indians uniform. The only way he returns would be on a minor league deal. Even then it would be hard to truly believe he will be capable of going an entire season without health issues.

Salazar will be 30 years old at the start of the 2020 season and I don’t think he will garner anything more than a camp invite. That is if he just doesn’t decide to retire and accept that he has too many injury problems to keep going.

I don’t want to count Salazar out. He has shown that he is willing to fight back toward a major league career. But this latest move to go home could be the end of his once promising career.