You Can’t Tell The Cleveland Indians’ Opening Day Lineups Without A Scorecard

Opening Day in Cleveland was like all the other scheduled opening days across Major League Baseball’s landscape. There was no opening day at all.

Ironically, on what would have been the earliest opening day in major league history, the weather in Cleveland would have been decidedly un-Cleveland-like for late March: sunny, with temperatures in the 50s.

What also would have been un-Cleveland-like was the likely starting lineup the Indians would have used against the Detroit Tigers had there been an opening day.

For numerous reasons, the Indians’ opening day lineup for 2020 – had it been Thursday, or whenever it is – will be dramatically different than their starting lineup on opening day in 2019.

The Indians’ projected opening day lineup in 2020 will likely include only three players who were in the opening day lineup in 2019. Five of the players in the Indians’ opening day lineup a year ago won’t be in the opening day lineup this year because they are no longer members of the organization.

The Indians’ opening day lineup in 2019:

CF Leonys Martin

3B Jose Ramirez

RF Tyler Naquin

1B Carlos Santana

DH Hanley Ramirez

LF Jake Bauers

C Roberto Perez

2B Brad Miller

SS Eric Stamets

RHP Corey Kluber

That was Manager Terry Francona’s opening day lineup, hampered, as it was, by shortstop Francisco Lindor and second baseman Jason Kipnis both starting the season on the injured list. The only players in the Indians’ 2019 opening day lineup who will be in the opening day lineup this year, whenever it is played, are Jose Ramirez, Santana, and Perez. Here are the others from that makeshift 2019 lineup:

Martin, who was unable to regain his form after a near-fatal bacterial infection brought an early end to his 2018 season. He was hitting .199 in 65 games when the Indians released him on June 27.

Naquin blew out his knee late last season and is expected to start this season on the injured list. Hanley Ramirez was hitting .184 in 16 games when the Indians released him on April 22. Bauers, a left-handed hitter, is still in the organization, but wouldn’t have been in the starting lineup this year, had the Tigers started left-hander Matthew Boyd.

Miller was released by the Indians on April 17 after hitting .250 in 13 games as Kipnis’ replacement. Stamets was hitting .049 in 15 games as Lindor’s replacement, when he was optioned to Triple-A Columbus on April 16. He spent the rest of the year at Columbus and is currently a member of the Colorado Rockies organization.

Kluber, of course, was traded to the Texas Rangers in December of last year, for outfielder Delino DeShields and pitcher Emmanuel Clase.

The Indians’ likely opening day lineup this year, had it happened on Thursday, or whenever it happens, could have looked like this:

SS Francisco Lindor

LF Oscar Mercado

3B Jose Ramirez

1B Carlos Santana

RF Franmil Reyes

DH Domingo Santana

C Roberto Perez

2B Cesar Hernandez

CF Delino DeShields

RHP Shane Bieber

The newcomers are Domingo Santana, Hernandez, and DeShields. Santana and Hernandez both signed as free agents during the winter, and DeShields was part of the Kluber trade with Texas. Bieber, last year’s MVP of the All-Star Game, will be the first pitcher not named Corey Kluber to start on opening day for the Indians since Justin Masterson in 2014.

A 70% turnover in an opening day lineup from one year to the next reflects the changing nature of the Indians’ payroll, which has decreased in each of the last three years. Just two years ago, in 2018, the Indians’ opening day lineup included five players who are no longer in the organization: Kipnis, Yonder Alonso, Edwin Encarnacion, Lonnie Chisenhall, and Yan Gomes.

The last time the Indians’ season-opening game was played in Cleveland was 2016, just four years ago, when the opening day lineup included Rajai Davis, Mike Napoli, Marlon Byrd, Juan Uribe and Collin Cowgill.

The Indians reached the World Series that year, with LeBron James, watching some late-season games from a suite at Progressive Field, as their most famous cheerleader.

James might have also been there Thursday, had there been a game. The Lakers were scheduled to play the Cavs Thursday night at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.