Brantley's Injury Could Have A Very Serious Impact on the Cleveland Indians

The 2016 Cleveland Indians are very optimistic about the upcoming season, but they do have some serious cause for concern. The AL Central is now one of the toughest divisions in baseball, and the toughest in the AL, and every last game will count towards a playoff push. Cleveland's cause for concern certainly won't come from the pitching, because they have one of the best and youngest rotations in baseball that will only continue to improve with more MLB time. The big concern is one that has plagued them since the days they were great, and it comes from the offense. In 2015, Cleveland was 18th in runs scored (669), 22nd in homeruns (141), and 21st in batting average with runners in scoring position. The Indians main problem in 2015 was not just simply the offense (Because they were superb in some categories including being 2nd in doubles (303), 11th in average (.256), and 7th in on base percentage at .325), but it was their clutch hitting and lack of power. The worst part about all of it is, they will be without their best power and clutch hitter for the first month and a half. Michael Brantley, who is now recovering from November shoulder surgery, hit .310 with 15 HR, 84 RBI, and an MLB best 45 doubles in 2015. While he is pushing to be back, and already is doing a lot of his regular Spring work, he is not expected to be back till mid May to early June. This creates a gaping hole in a lineup that is already desperate for offense in any way they can find it. Cleveland has high hopes for newcomer Mike Napoli, bouncebacks from Yan Gomes and Carlos Santana, and a continued high rate of production from Jason Kipnis and Francisco Lindor, but the ugly hole could cost Cleveland a lot of games. If you can't score runs you can't win ballgames, as evidenced by Corey Kluber's 9-16 record in 2015. Kluber had a very good year that has been highly penalized by his bad run support, for example he was 4-10 with an ERA of 3.38 at the All-Star break. Overall, Kluber was 76th in run support, and it cost him a lot of games. Without Brantley, it is very likely that Cleveland's offense will give very minimal run support, and when you stretch that over a month and a half it gets very serious. By the time Brantley comes back, the lack of offense could have already put Cleveland in a huge hole that will be difficult, if not impossible to climb out of. We may very well see Cleveland miss the postseason, all because of the fact they will be without Brantley for so many games.