Corey Kluber deflected all questions about his health during and after the Cleveland Indians’ American League Division Series against the New York Yankees, and some who know Kluber expect that he will probably never speak publicly about what ailed him. The likely Cy Young Award winner in the AL allowed nine runs over 6⅓ innings, and between his problems and Edwin Encarnacion’s ankle sprain, the Indians -- who dominated baseball over the last six weeks of the regular season -- were simply compromised, the underpinnings in their lineup and rotation splintered. Given the construction of Cleveland’s roster, however, and the on-going overhaul of most of the other teams in the AL Central, the Indians should be well-positioned for another run in 2018 at their first championship since 1948.
The same can’t be said of all of the clubs knocked out of the playoffs. What follows is a rundown of the offseason work that lies ahead for the eliminated postseason teams -- and start with this: Yes, everybody wants outfielder/pitcher/DH Shohei Otani, with a lot of folks in the industry assuming that he’ll land with one of the big market teams -- the Yankees, the Los Angeles Dodgers or the Chicago Cubs.
First baseman Carlos Santana is a free agent, but Cleveland will retain just about the rest of its core, from Kluber to Francisco Lindor to Jose Ramirez to Andrew Miller to center fielder Bradley Zimmer. Cleveland will have to identify a replacement for Santana, but it may be that the volume of the market will work for the Indians. There should be a lot of first-base options from which to choose.