Cleveland Sports Forum

Cleveland Indians ace Corey Kluber out at least a week with a quadriceps strain



CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The clock is ticking on Corey Kluber.

The Indians will play their first postseason game one week from Thursday. Meanwhile, an MRI on Tuesday afternoon revealed that Kluber is suffering from a mild quadriceps strain. He is expected to miss 7-10 days.

Kluber does not have a groin injury, as the Indians had initially thought. He departed Monday's contest after only four innings and 60 pitches. He returned to Cleveland for the scan on Tuesday afternoon, and rejoined the club in Detroit on Tuesday evening.

"It's a heck of a lot better than it could've been," said Tribe manager Terry Francona. "I think we were hopeful that he'd be OK, but again, when a guy's out there competing, you don't know how much they're really hurting. But, this will give him a chance to hopefully have a bullpen session or two. Hopefully, it'll maybe even help him. I think it's certainly not bad news."


Kluber declined comment as he exited the Indians' clubhouse on Tuesday night.

The Indians are already without starting pitchers Carlos Carrasco (fractured bone in hand) and Danny Salazar (strained forearm).

In 32 starts this season, Kluber is 18-9 with a 3.14 ERA. He has tallied 227 strikeouts across 215 innings.

"With the adversity this team's seen this year, that's a huge sigh of relief," said Mike Clevinger, who started Tuesday's tilt against the Tigers. "Not all of these stories have ended as happy as that one. It's a good break for him to have to get ready for the postseason."

The Indians had already planned ahead to cover the rest of the regular season without Kluber's services. Zach McAllister and Ryan Merritt are slated to start on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively. Josh Tomlin and Trevor Bauer will start two of the team's games in Kansas City this weekend. Adam Plutko could start the other.

The Indians are already running low on starting pitching. Now, the injury bug is bothering Corey Kluber.

Francona said after Tuesday's game that Clevinger would return to the bullpen. While that could indicate that the Indians are confident in Kluber being ready for a postseason start -- Bauer and Tomlin are the only other healthy, deployable starters -- pitching coach Mickey Callaway said that is "not necessarily" the case.

"We just feel like Clevinger is more valuable for us out of the 'pen," Callaway said. "So we want to make sure he's ready to go."

Kluber was a central figure in the Indians' celebration Monday night of their first division title in nine years. He poured plenty of beer and champagne on teammates and coaches.

Amid preparing for an October baseball run, Cleveland Indians players send thoughtful card to a woman fighting breast cancer

In the hunt of an October run, the Cleveland Indians are still making efforts to be the great, giving guys they’ve been all season long.

Take Debra Eula, who lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, but, a NE Ohio native, is a huge Cleveland sports fan.

She recently shared this message with us on our Facebook page, with the accompanying photo: “First off CONGRATULATIONS! I live in the SF Bay Area and am fighting Breast Cancer. Today I received a personal get well card from the players with the help of Chris Gimenez. It meant everything to me and I will continue to fight as hard as the Tribe does to win. I just wanted to pass on the incredible group of men we have representing the Cleveland Indians.”

To get home field advantage for the first series, we have to win 3 of 4, while the Red Sox lose 3 of 4.
If we have to play Monday, you know the starters will be rested.

I'm fairly certain we are not going to finish with the best record.....and no that's not being Negative, that's looking at it from a realistic perspective.

Couple that with the fact that it doesn't look like Tito has any urgency to have the best record and home field, he wants to make sure what is left of his roster is ready and raring to go.

That being said, lets think about it this way.

Game 1 who is going to be our starter. Kluber right?
Game 2....Probably Bauer.
Game 3....Tomlin
after that it's a crap shoot.

If we get home field, Kluber would be starting the first game at home.....the first road game would be Tomlin. Do we really want Tomlin starting the first road game in either texas or boston?

I think Kluber starting Game 1 in hostile territory and Tomlin starting game 3 in a safe space is a better option.

And think about this. Assume we don't have home field advantage,
Kluber wins game one Thursday Away
Bauer loses game 2 Away

Suddenly it's 2 out of 3 with 2 home games.
Tomlin Game 3 home
Kluber on short rest Game 4....Slam the door shut and celebrate on the home field and wait to see who we face in the ALCS.

OR

That leaves Bauer game 5 on the road if necessary.

It's a lot of assumptions....but I think THAT gives us a better shot in games 3 and 4 at home than if we had them away.

I think no matter what the first two games are gonna be a split. Call it gut feeling. If we're gonna split 2 games.

Then maybe we have Salazar back for the ALCS.

I dunno I kind of like the game 3 and 4 at home scenario....

Well, whenever and whatever games are played in Cleveland, I will be there!

Personally, as dumb as it sounds, I wouldn't mind even resting Tomlin one more start before seasons end. Dude seems to pitch a ton better when he's well rested. And Lord knows we are going to need him.

Looks like Francona isn't too worried about Kluber being ready ...

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DETROIT -- Indians manager Terry Francona wants everyone to calm down.

The Indians are currently down their top three starters, but ace Corey Kluber is not expected to be sidelined for long. Barring any setbacks, Kluber's mild quadriceps strain should not get in the way of him logging a couple bullpen sessions in the days leading up to the American League Division Series.

"It's not like he's in a wheelchair," Francona said on Wednesday afternoon. "He'll be fine."

Kluber exited Monday's AL Central-clinching win over the Tigers after four innings due to the quadriceps strain, which was identified in an MRI exam on Tuesday in Cleveland. The right-hander was back with the team in Detroit by Tuesday night and was already feeling improved by Wednesday.

Francona noted that Kluber pitched through some discomfort for part of Monday's outing, but Cleveland decided it was most prudent to remove the starter from the game. The Indians are also missing righties Danny Salazar (right forearm) and Carlos Carrasco (fractured right hand) at the moment, so Kluber will be a critical piece to Cleveland's postseason plans.

The team announced on Tuesday that Kluber should be ready to return to game action in 7-10 days, putting him on target for a start for Game 1 (Oct. 6) or Game 2 (Oct. 7) in the ALDS. First, the right-hander will need to clear a few hurdles, including bullpen sessions. Francona said there is not a set day yet for Kluber's first mound workout.

"Not until he's ready to do it," Francona said. "That goes completely on how he's doing. I would think he would be able to get a couple in, for sure."

Under the circumstances, the Indians finalized their planned rotation for the regular season's final games. Following Wednesday's bullpen day (with Zach McAllister starting), Cleveland will go with rookie lefty Ryan Merritt (Thursday at Tigers), rookie righty Adam Plutko (Friday at Royals), Trevor Bauer (Saturday at Royals) and Josh Tomlin (Sunday at Royals).

Salazar was scheduled to throw off a mound in a bullpen session on Wednesday and is still a possibility to begin the postseason in the bullpen for Cleveland. If the Indians were to advance deep into the playoffs, there is a slight chance that the team would try to stretch Salazar out to start.

"Obviously, we're up against the calendar," Indians president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti said on Monday. "He's still just now throwing bullpens. So, there's only a certain amount of time we have to build him back up. Especially for any sort of early round of the playoffs, if anything it would be out of the bullpen."

All indications are that Cleveland plans on using a three-man rotation for the ALDS, with right-handers Bauer and Tomlin joining Kluber on the staff. Rookie righty Mike Clevinger is available as a fourth option for Cleveland, but Francona reiterated on Wednesday that the team likes him as a multi-inning weapon out of the bullpen.

"For whatever reason, coming out of the bullpen, they've both been more aggressive," said Francona, referring also to Cody Anderson. "I'm glad. You're seeing their best stuff. It hasn't worked real good starting, but they don't have to. You're always trying to take what the players do good and do that more."

Can you say, "Grady Sizemore?"

Michael Brantley could miss “significant” time in 2017

The outfielder’s injury woes may not be over.
by Matt R. Lyons @mattrly Sep 29, 2016, 2:24p




Cleveland Indians outfielder Michael Brantley has had a generally awful year. After injuring his shoulder diving for a ball last September, the 29-year-old played in just 11 games in 2016 before the club shut him down for the remainder of the season and opted for surgery on his injured shoulder.

The recovery time for Brantley’s shoulder surgery is normally four months, but according to Today’s Knuckleball’s Jon Heyman, Brantley could miss “significant” time next season.

Sources familiar with Cleveland Indians outfielder Michael Brantley’s shoulder surgery suggest they believe it is quite serious, and that he could in fact miss significant time next season.

Word based on those sources is that “they had to re-anchor the muscle to the bone.”

This is our old pal Sourcey McSource, so take that for what you will. But last season we all laughed when Peter Gammons suggested Brantley could be out until as late as August and look where we are now.

As usual with anything injury related, the response from president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti was that there was “Nothing new on Michael.”

The Indians have missed Brantley’s production in left field this season, but they have found ways to fill the void.

Jose Ramirez, who played the majority of the first half of the season in Brantley’s vacant outfield spot, has transformed himself into a solid all-around hitter. Similar to Brantley, Ramirez rarely strikes out and he makes a ton of contact. The Indians also went out an acquired Brandon Guyer at the trade deadline to keep plugging away in the outfield.

It all worked out for 2016 considering the Indians are AL Central champions without him, but they could really use Brantley in 2017. His contract runs through 2018 and includes a $12 million team option with a $1 million buyout. If he does really miss a big chunk of 2017, one has to wonder what the Indians will do when 2018 rolls around.

The way I look at it, we far exceeded expectations based on all the adversity we faced this year. A patched up outfield, a glaring weakness at third base, a catching corps that basically was non-existent, and injuries to the pitching staff at the most inopportune times. In my opinion, any positives from this day on is just icing on the cake. As I see it, We go on into post season as significant underdogs. I'll take whatever we can get.

Speaking of underdogs.

Even here in Nashville, the little they talk about MLB, when it came to a quick MLB segment they discussed the first round. There were like 5 in there and they all were saying that Texas and the Redsox should hope to get Cleveland because they should fight it out in the ALCS instead of having to play Toronto or Baltimore, because they (Baltimore and Toronto) aren't as deserving of the easy road 3 and done with extra rest time till the ALCS.

I hope Nashville doesn't get team. The AAA team is fine for these parts.

DETROIT – Michael Brantley looked surprised when told that a report said he could miss a big chunk of playing time in 2017 because of lingering problems with a right shoulder injury that limited him to 11 games this season.

"I'm out again?" said Brantley, Thursday morning at Comerica Park. "Maybe he knows something I don't."

Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports reported that Brantley could miss "significant' playing time next season because of his right shoulder that has been operated on twice since November.

Brantley underwent season-ending surgery Aug. 15. The original surgery was done in November to repair a torn labrum. Brantley suffered the injury diving for a ball in left field in September of 2015.

"Our expectation is that he'll be ready for spring training," said Chris Antonetti, Indians president of baseball operations. "We were told after the second surgery that the timeline (for recovery) would be four to five months. As far as I know, nothing has changed."

Yan Gomes has been activated. Carrasco has been moved to 60 day DL.

Tito on Intentional Talk:

https://www.facebook.com/Indians/videos ... 885674521/

joez wrote:The way I look at it, we far exceeded expectations based on all the adversity we faced this year. A patched up outfield, a glaring weakness at third base, a catching corps that basically was non-existent, and injuries to the pitching staff at the most inopportune times. In my opinion, any positives from this day on is just icing on the cake. As I see it, We go on into post season as significant underdogs. I'll take whatever we can get.

Great post joez, totally agree and couldn't ask for more. 93 wins? Mind boggling.

Home field in ALDS is in our control now, right? We win next two games and we have home field against Boston.

If we win today and Boston loses we wouldn't even need Monday's game.

If both Toronto and Baltimore wins Detroit is out today. Or if Detroit loses.

So I hope the Tribe, Toronto, and Baltimore wins, then we can take Monday off as well. (Toronto plays Boston)

The days off really helped Lindor, who was not used to this long season and really struggling. He gets some time off and boom, breaks out of slump.

I'm sorry guys, but I don't agree with you guys. The goal is to win the World Series, not win 93 games. It's been 68 years. None in my lifetime. i personally am not interested in consolation prizes or excuses.