Terry Francona should bench Jason Kipnis or limit his playing time. Kipnis has played better recently, but there’s no way that he should be playing every day. He is hitting .191 this season and has only two home runs and 21 RBI. The Cleveland Indians should give Kipnis one more week to turn it around. In Kipnis’ defense, in his last seven games he’s hitting .276 with six RBI. If he keeps this up, disregard everything I am about to say.
The Cleveland Indians Should Bench Jason Kipnis; Trade for Relief Pitcher
Erik Gonzalez has just 40 at bats on the season, but he has 15 hits. That’s good for a .375 batting average which is the best on the team. Gonzalez can play just about anywhere on the infield and he would play a fine second base. Gonzalaz has an OBP of .405 while Kipnis is sitting at .274 for his OBP. Part of the reason Francona won’t bench Kipnis is his leadership in the clubhouse. Kipnis made his debut in 2011 which is before Francona became the Indians manager. It makes sense for Francona to talk to Kipnis and tell him that the Indians are going to give Gonzalaz a chance for a couple of weeks. All the Indians have to do is give Gonzalaz a chance. If it doesn’t work out, bring back Kipnis. Kipnis is struggling right now and it makes sense to give a young player a chance who has shined when given chances this season. Kipnis has struggled to stay healthy over the past two years and the Indians did fine without him last season. He might be tradeable if the club looks to go that direction and try to make a splash at the trade deadline.
Indians Relief Pitching
The Cleveland Indians’ problems don’t stop with Jason Kipnis. Another big issue for the Indians is their bullpen. The bullpen has an ERA of 6.08 which is last in the MLB. The Indians’ bullpen had a good first month of the season, but has imploded since. On Sunday, the bullpen gave up six runs in the eighth inning. The Indians came back with a five run ninth inning to tie the score and went on to win the game in 14 innings after Greg Allen hit a walk off home run. Its hard to say who the Indians should trade for and truthfully it might be too early to get a team to trade one of their top relief pitchers. It would have been ideal if the Indians could have gotten Alex Colome from the Rays but he was sent to the Seattle Mariners. Sergio Romo might be an option if the Rays are willing to part ways with him but it still seems very early in the season to make a trade of this magnitude.
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