CLEVELAND, Ohio — Adversity got an early start this week in spring training for Cleveland Indians manager Terry Francona. Turns out the Tribe skipper had exactly one worry-free day in the Arizona desert before an old friend from last year paid a visit. Mike Clevinger’s injury bug.
Clevinger suffered a left knee injury Wednesday while participating in drills at the club’s Goodyear Development Complex. Trainers were nervous from the outset that the injury was to Clevinger’s meniscus, and they were right. The 6-foot-4 righty returned to the facility on Thursday without showing much improvement and was sent for an MRI that revealed a partial meniscus tear.
When Clevinger missed more than two months with a back strain and an ankle sprain last season, Cleveland’s rotation depth was tested. Youngsters such as Jefry Rodriguez, Zach Plesac and Aaron Civale stepped in to pick up the slack. Francona said Friday in his daily press conference with reporters in Arizona that the Indians will be looking for the same type of contributions. He expects Clevinger to be just fine once he’s finished with his recovery.
“It’s not doomsday,” Francona said. “One, we know he’s a quick healer. Two, he’s going to be able to keep his arm conditioned the entire time. Yeah, I’d prefer it didn’t happen, obviously. But he’s going to be OK.”
The Indians were fortunate that Dr. Tim Kremcheck, the surgeon that Clevinger elected to have his procedure with, was in Arizona this week working with the Reds and was able to operate midday Friday. An update on Clevinger’s return to play status will likely be provided this weekend after Kremcheck consults with Indians trainers.
The team announced after Clevinger’s surgery that he was expected to rejoin the Tribe’s big-league rotation in six to eight weeks.
New in town: Domingo Santana officially joined the team on Friday, though he had been spotted earlier in the week at the training complex and his contract was the worst-kept secret in Goodyear. Francona said he does not yet know where Santana will end up fitting in a crowded outfield that has 10 players on the 40-man roster.
“It’s enough of a pretty potent bat at times that we thought it was worth signing him,” Francona said. “We were excited to do it and see where he fits. We don’t know where that all fits together, but we’ll figure it out.”
With so many outfield options for spring training games, Francona said you could see multiple guys play multiple positions. The only certainty, he quipped, is that you won’t see Santana or Franmil Reyes in center. Greg Allen will move around and play all three spots, and the same goes for Jordan Luplow, even getting a few innings in center.
“The idea is we don’t want to get to the end of spring training and go ‘man, we eliminated that possibility because we didn’t do something,'” Francona said. "So we’ll try to cover all that. You don’t want to close off options because you forgot to do something.”
Bowling balls: What were Francona’s first impressions of flame-throwing reliever Emmanuel Clase, acquired along with Delino DeShields in the November Corey Kluber trade?
“He was throwing 100 mph bowling balls,” Francona said. “That was fun to watch.”
Francona said Clase, who turns 22 next month, made it look easy in reaching triple digits with a hard sinking fastball.
“Just watching him, without much effort, that ball was coming out and it was going this way and this way,” Francona said. “It was heavy. It looked like it was really heavy.”
Talking to the Hand: All-Star closer Brad Hand, who came out of the gates on fire last season before cooling off around mid-July, threw for the first time Friday. Francona said Hand did a good job of not over-doing things in his first session.
“Last year, I remember it was like he was electric,” Francona said. “Today, I thought he didn’t step on it quite as much. Which is fine. He looked good. Everybody’s looked good. Just to see that they’re in shape and the ball’s coming out good, that makes you feel good. You know that the time was well spent in the winter and there’s no surprises. No bad surprises.”
The Kid: Once ranked the Tribe’s No. 1 prospect, right-hander Triston McKenzie is taking part in his first big league spring training camp after being added to the 40-man roster prior to December’s Rule 5 Draft. McKenzie missed almost all of the last two seasons due to forearm and back injuries and has not yet pitched above Double-A.
Francona said seeing McKenzie out on the mound and throwing without restrictions was fun.
“He had kind of a lost year,” Francona said. “Hopefully with that comes some, not that you’re going always to stay away from injuries. But maybe like a maturation process, because he had so much time to sit around and think and realize how much he missed actually playing baseball.”
Pump the breaks on Bebo: Don’t expect to see Gold Glove catcher Roberto Perez playing in spring training games with the big league club any time in the first week or so, according to Francona.
Perez, who underwent offseason ankle surgery in October, will ease into games after working closely with Sandy Alomar Jr. on fundamentals. Francona wants to control Perez’s base running progression before letting him loose in Cactus League games.
Perez has worked himself into one of the game’s premier backstops both in calling games and at the plate, where he had a career year in 2019.
“He’s worked hard to put himself in that position,” Francona said. “He understands that you don’t just plateau. It’s continual. Sandy being here will also help because he takes so much pride in that side of the game.”
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