INDIAN SUMMER
Cleveland aims to avoid Series loss hangover
GOODYEAR, Ariz. — The Indians are trying to determine the last man in their bullpen, a utility infielder and whether Austin Jackson has enough left to provide value as a platoon outfielder.
What they insist they are not looking for is hunger or focus or sympathy.
What more can you want for a team in early March than a short to-do list and a work ethic and a mindset to chase greatness?
The 2016 Indians blew a threegames-to-one lead in the World Series to the Cubs, finally capitulated in the 10th inning of Game 7 and remained without a title since 1948. It was agony marrying frustration — a cup of water tantalizingly close to a thirsty person who can’t reach it.
That could create a hangover — physically, mentally and spiritually — since Game 7 began on Nov. 2.
Adding Edwin Encarnacion in the offseason created a sense that no division favorite had a larger talent gap over the rest of the division than the Indians. That could create an overconfi- dence and over-privilege, a lethargy and expectation of an automatic bid into October.
But clubs officials have been overjoyed at the shape their players are in — and not just physically. Left fielder Michael Brantley was among the veterans to establish an early tenor by stating all Cleveland had earned from last year was “a target on its back.”
“Your players can come back in two ways [after what happened last year],” manager Terry Francona said. “They can have a sense of entitlement, or with a love of where they were last year and an obsession to get back. With this group, I am betting on No. 2.”
The 2014 Royals — another small-market AL Central team — lost Game 7 of the World Series with the tying run 90 feet away. They proved to have the temperament, temerity and tenaciousness to avoid the wallow of having to do so much just to get back to the same point — and won the 2015 World Series.
The Indians now will attempt the same. That they are doing it with that short shopping list — an optional reliever (perhaps former Yankee Nick Goody) as the last guy in the pen, a backup infielder (probably Michael Martinez, who made the last out of the World Series) and whether Jackson has something left (he homered in his first spring game Thursday) — is kind of stunning.
“I have been here when we were trying to figure out the whole roster,” GM Mike Chernoff said.
The Indians will climb over $100 million in payroll for the first time, yet that still will be about the 20th largest in the majors. That they are looking to solve so few issues feels more akin to what Francona would have had with the big-budget Red Sox of last decade.
This reflects a great job by Cleveland’s front office in talent acquisition in the draft (Cody Allen, Jason Kipnis, Francisco Lindor), internationally (Jose Ramirez, Danny Salazar) and trades (Carlos Carrasco, Corey Kluber, Andrew Miller, Carlos Santana), and also the team-friendly long-term deals it structured with Brantley, Carrasco, Kipnis, Kluber and Santana.
“We can’t build through free agency,” Chernoff said. “But having cost controllable guys allowed one big guy.”
That would be Encarnacion, whose market fell to a place that Cleveland could nab him for three years at $60 million. In conjunction with the significant prospects ceded last July to the Yankees for Miller, the Indians moved out of their comfort zone to try to seize what Francona called “our window” to win. Chernoff said the prospects still would be there if Cleveland needed adjustments in season.
“I love our team,” Francona said. “But you don’t go from February directly to October. I like how our team has come here because you start skipping steps and you get in trouble.”