Cleveland Indians five-point checklist for the month of July

Setup Outfield System

The Cleveland Indians outfield has been a bit of a mess for the last handful of seasons, but the unit seemed to be turning a corner of late. Eddie Rosario and Harold Ramirez have been strong additions while Josh Naylor and Bradley Zimmer were settling into their roles. Then, injury struck and the group is once again a bit of a question mark.

Rosario and Ramirez will still play their roles, but will the team increase Zimmer’s role? Oscar Mercado was called up, so maybe he returns to his 2019 form that convinced fans that center field was solved. There’s also Daniel Johnson and maybe even Nolan Jones as options in the minor leagues that are on the 40-man roster.

There’s also the slim chance that an outside player is brought in. There are few free agents that could be options and it remains to be seen if the team will make a trade, although there’s plenty more options there.

There’s still enough time to figure it all out, but if an external option is the route the clock is ticking. One way or another the team will need to figure out the plan in the outfield in the month of July. That doesn’t necessarily mean the names need to be written in Sharpie, but the way those names get to Cleveland needs to be decided. Hopefully, it’s Mercado and we can move on with the outfield set the way it is.