Cleveland Sports Forum

Bradley Zimmer - OF - Indians

Indians OF prospect Bradley Zimmer has been diagnosed with a bruised left middle finger.

Zimmer caused quite a stir when he hurt himself on a bunt attempt Wednesday for Triple-A Columbus but it looks like he was able to avoid a serious injury. The Indians will continue to evaluate Zimmer over the next few days.

The 23-year-old is MLB.com's 30th-ranked prospect.

Michael Brantley To Have Season-Ending Surgery

By Charlie Wilmoth | August 13, 2016 at 3:41pm CDT

Indians manager Terry Francona says outfielder Michael Brantley will have season-ending surgery on Monday, MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian and other reporters have tweeted. The specifics of the surgery have yet to be announced, and the timeline of his recovery isn’t yet clear, but Brantley had been dealing with shoulder and biceps issues and already appeared unlikely to return in 2016.

Brantley had shoulder surgery last November and began the season on the disabled list, then had persistent problems with the shoulder throughout the season. He was also diagnosed with biceps tendinitis in June, and he had surgery last month to remove scar tissue from his biceps tendon.

In the midst of all that, Brantley has collected just 43 plate appearances this season, batting a mere .231/.279/.282. That’s a far cry from the numbers he posted in his healthy 2014 and 2015 seasons, when he hit a combined .319/.382/.494 and rated among the American League’s best players. The Indians have fared quite well in the outfield without Brantley, getting very strong performances from a patchwork group of outfielders led by Rajai Davis, Tyler Naquin, Lonnie Chisenhall and Jose Ramirez. It is, however, hard for a team not to miss a player of Brantley’s caliber.

As Francona explained today (via Cleveland.com’s Paul Hoynes on Twitter), the timing of Brantley’s surgery now is geared toward getting him healthy for next season and presumably beyond. Brantley remains under contract with the Indians for 2017, and his contract contains a team option for 2018.

And on a better note:


Danny Salazar - S - Indians

Danny Salazar (elbow) threw 15 pitches during Friday's bullpen session.

He only threw fastballs and changeups but will feature his full repertoire during Sunday's bullpen session. If that goes well, Salazar will likely return to the Indians' rotation Wednesday against the White Sox. That's the first day he's eligible to come off the disabled list.

I don't think we can count on ever seeing Brantley play again

I don't agree there. Adrian Gonzalez had a similar surgery if I remember.

The thing is, A-Gon never got back the power he showed early in his career. But he returned to being a very good hitter.

Power wasn't Brantley's game anyways, so I think he'll be back to a very similar hitter he was.

How long do we have to wait to replace Almonte?

He's got baggage, but I have a feeling Puig would be available under the right conditions. High risk but the rewards could be worth it.

Talk of trade surrounded Soler prior to the deadline. I don't think the Cubs will trade him but I would be knocking on the doors.

Had a dream that we did a waivers deal with the Halos for Trout, paying them Naquin, Yandy, and Clevinger!

Did we drug them first?

TFIR wrote:Did we drug them first?

Hey if the White Sox really are willing to trade Sale, who could we give up to get him? We really could use a lefty starter.

As much as I would hate this because he is the backbone of our team, how about Kipnis for Sale, All Star for All Star. Ramirez moves to 2B and we can bring Yandy or Urshela up to play 3B.

I just use this to get a conversation going if anyone is interested.

BTW I do not mean trade for this season, don't screw with what we have going, but for next season when we will know more about Brantley and how it all worked out this season.

well I certainly wasn't go make that deal Now. But after the season? Not just do we have Ramirez available for 2nd, we have a deep collection of middle infielders from Erik Gonzalez who's ready for the majors right now to a collection of solid hitters in High A [2b Krieger; 2b-ss Mathias; ss Chang] let alone BA's comments that Francisco Mejia is likely to wind up at 2nd or 3rd and be a league-leading hitter.

Is Sale under contract commitment? If not, I'd want to get him signed to a deal before we did this and would be prepared to include a clause offering him veto rights on all throw-back jersey days.

CIV- That veto right might just get the job done.

As much as we love Kipnis, his value is not close to Sale.

Kipnis might be a starting point if I am the Chisox GM, but there would have to be more coming my way.