When the Indians traded former ace Corey Kluber this past winter a lot of people raised their eyebrows. In response, a other people said that, actually, Mike Clevinger and Shane Bieber lead the pitching staff now, and Kluber was expendable.
Guess Bieber is going to have a bit more weight on his shoulders in the early going this year, because the Indians announced this morning that Clevinger is out with knee surgery. He’ll have an operation today to repair a partial tear in the meniscus of his left knee.
The club has not yet put a timetable on his return, but it’s worth noting that Phillies starter Jake Arrieta had meniscus surgery in late January/early February and was ready to go the first week of the season. If Clevinger follows that path, he shouldn’t miss too much time. Craig Kimbrel missed seven weeks after meniscus surgery in 2016. All of which is to say, it’s not super clear how bad this is.
Clevinger was limited to 21 starts and 126 innings of work last season due to back and ankle problems, but he registered a 2.71 ERA and 12.1 K/9 when healthy, making him an ace. An ace the Indians really need to get back soon if they intend to compete with the Twins and White Sox in the AL Central this season.
Major League Baseball’s horrendous handling of the sign-stealing scandal has led to a nearly nonstop stream of quotes from players criticizing the Astros and their handling of it all. All during the week — pitchers and catchers report! — which is supposed to be about renewal, optimism, and all the positive things the league likes to promote about the sport.
The latest comes from Camelback Ranch in Arizona, where the Dodgers train. This morning reigning NL MVP Cody Bellinger spoke with the press and offered his two — more like fifty-two — cents on the Astros’ much-maligned apologies from yesterday and from their sign-stealing shenanigans in general:
Bellinger: “I thought Manfred’s punishment was weak, giving them immunity. I mean these guys were cheating for three years. I think what people don’t realize is Altuve stole an MVP from Judge in ’17. Everyone knows they stole the ring from us.”
— Jorge Castillo (@jorgecastillo) February 14, 2020
Players were going to have ill-feelings about all of this anyway, but I suspect that they feel far more emboldened to offer them like this given Major League Baseball’s mishandling of it all. And, of course, Jim Crane’s absurd claim yesterday that the sign-stealing didn’t help the Astros threw gas on the fire.
Great job, everyone. Way to start out the season.
