{"id":13087,"date":"2018-05-29T20:47:56","date_gmt":"2018-05-30T00:47:56","guid":{"rendered":"lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/\/?p=13087"},"modified":"2018-05-29T20:47:56","modified_gmt":"2018-05-30T00:47:56","slug":"the-cleveland-indians-should-bench-jason-kipnis-trade-for-relief-pitcher","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2018\/05\/29\/the-cleveland-indians-should-bench-jason-kipnis-trade-for-relief-pitcher\/","title":{"rendered":"The Cleveland Indians Should Bench Jason Kipnis; Trade for Relief Pitcher"},"content":{"rendered":"

Terry Francona<\/strong> should bench Jason Kipnis<\/a><\/strong> or limit his playing time.\u00a0 Kipnis has played better recently, but there’s\u00a0no way that he should be playing every day.\u00a0 He is hitting .191 this season and has only two home runs and 21 RBI. \u00a0The Cleveland Indians<\/a> should give Kipnis one more week to turn it around. \u00a0In Kipnis’ defense, in his last seven games he’s hitting .276 with six RBI. \u00a0If he keeps this up, disregard everything I am about to say.<\/p>\n

The Cleveland Indians Should Bench Jason Kipnis; Trade for Relief Pitcher<\/h2>\n

Erik Gonzalez<\/strong><\/a> has just 40 at bats on the season, but he has 15 hits. \u00a0That’s good for a .375 batting average which is the best on the team. \u00a0Gonzalez can play just about anywhere on the infield and he would play a fine second base. \u00a0Gonzalaz has an OBP of .405 while Kipnis is sitting at .274 for his OBP.\u00a0 Part of the reason Francona won’t bench Kipnis is his leadership in the clubhouse. \u00a0Kipnis made his debut in 2011 which is before Francona became the Indians manager.\u00a0 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. \u00a0All the Indians have to do is give Gonzalaz a chance. \u00a0If it doesn’t work out, bring back Kipnis. \u00a0Kipnis is struggling right now and it makes sense to give a young player a chance who has shined when given chances this season. \u00a0Kipnis has struggled to stay healthy over the past two years and the Indians did fine without him last season. \u00a0He might be tradeable if the club looks to go that direction and try to make a splash at the trade deadline.<\/p>\n

Indians Relief Pitching<\/h3>\n

The Cleveland Indians’ problems don’t stop with Jason Kipnis. Another big issue for the Indians is their bullpen. \u00a0The bullpen has an ERA of 6.08 which is last in the MLB. \u00a0The Indians’ bullpen had a good first month of the season, but has imploded since.\u00a0 On Sunday, the\u00a0 bullpen gave up six runs in the eighth inning. \u00a0The 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<\/a> <\/strong>hit a walk off home run.\u00a0 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. \u00a0It would have been ideal if the Indians could have gotten Alex Colome<\/a><\/strong> from the Rays but he was sent to the Seattle Mariners. \u00a0Sergio Romo<\/a><\/strong> 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.<\/p>\n

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\nEmbed from Getty Images<\/a>