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Terry Francona: Cleveland Indians' run of good baseball not going anywhere

Despite free-agent departures, manager Terry Francona is confident the Cleveland Indians' run of good baseball is not going anywhere.
Despite free-agent departures, manager Terry Francona is confident the Cleveland Indians' run of good baseball is not going anywhere.

CLEVELAND -- The Cleveland Indians may have lost two middle-of-the-order hitters and a key reliever in free agency from the team that went on an American League-Record 22-game winning streak late last season, but the cupboard is far from bare.

As the start of spring training nears, manager Terry Francona is confident in the team the Indians will field for the regular season.

“I don’t think anybody should be pessimistic right now,” Francona said on the eve of TribeFest. “My goodness, we have the best record in the American League the last five years. This has been a good run of baseball, and I don’t see that going anywhere.”

Admittedly, the Indians found it hard to part ways with first baseman Carlos Santana, outfielder Jay Bruce, and especially, middle-reliever Bryan Shaw, who signed a four-year, $34 million deal with the Colorado Rockies.

Over 378 career appearances for the Indians, Shaw compiled a 21-22 record with a 3.11 earned run average. In 358.2 innings of work, Shaw allowed 307 hits and 143 runs, 124 of which were earned, and 31 home runs, an average of just over six round-trippers per season.

“Replacing Bryan in the bullpen will be a chore, probably take more than one guy to kind of fill what he did,” Francona said. “The good news is we have guys that can do that, and I have no doubt there will be guys who step up that we don’t know who they are yet.”

Although the Indians lost Shaw, Francona leaned on the fact that last season, Tyler Olson came out of nowhere to throw 20 scoreless innings and allow just 13 hits and six walks against 18 strikeouts in 30 appearances out of the bullpen.

“It happens every year, and it’ll happen again, so that’s exciting,” Francona said. “Some of the guys you just don’t know who they are yet, but they’ll rise to the occasion. They’ll get an opportunity and run with it, and that gets exciting.”

The Indians have compiled five straight winning seasons, and as such, have the American League’s best record (454-354, .562 winning percentage) since the start of the 2013 season.

Additionally, the Indians bring back the reigning Cy Young Award winner, Corey Kluber, a finalist for the 2017 AL Most Valuable Player Award, infielder Jose Ramirez, and an all-around talent in shortstop Francisco Lindor, who has made back-to-back appearances in the MLB All-Star Game.

All five of their All-Star players from a season ago, Lindor, Ramirez, Kluber, outfielder Michael Brantley and reliever Andrew Miller, are under contract for at least the 2018 season.

“If you give yourself enough chances, maybe we can break through,” Francona said. “It’s not easy to do. A lot of good teams out there, but I think we’re one of those teams that as we go through the year, we should have our glass half-full. We should feel good about things.”

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