Cleveland Indians: Three things that went wrong in May

Injury Problems Strike

During the month of May it seemed like every week brought with it a new injury for the Tribe’s roster. While any injury hurts a squad, it was some of the team’s best players as well.

The month began with Roberto Perez heading to the 10-day IL on May 5, later moving to the 60-day IL on May 23 when a spot was needed on the 40-man roster for Owen Miller. The Tribe has been able to fill the void decently well with Austin Hedges and Rene Rivera, but Perez’s knowledge behind the plate is nearly irreplaceable.

There was a long patch where Cleveland didn’t have a player hit the IL from May 5 until Perez was moved on May 23, however the last week of the season was a juggernaut for the roster.

The next move saw Franmil Reyes hit the 10-day IL on May 23, the same day that Perez was moved to the 60-day with Miller being called up for Reyes’ roster spot. Only a few days later on May 26 the Tribe added Zach Plesac to the 10-day IL with his thumb injury thanks to a locker room chair. The last punch to the gut was placing Jordan Luplow on the 10-day list on May 28. Luplow had been battling an ankle injury most of the season and with the team in need of a pitcher, the move was just more of timing thing it seemed like. Give Luplow time to recover and the staff another arm.

While Cleveland has managed to make due with what they have, losing Reyes, Plesac and Luplow all within a week was a tough pill to swallow. A positive could be that they should all hopefully return within a similar window, but getting to that point won’t be easy.