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The 2019 Indians will test your patience and Terry Francona's creativity -- Bud Shaw's Sports Spin

A season-opening shutout loss wasn't required to know the Indians must do more than pitch well to win another AL Central division title.

CLEVELAND — An early read on things Cleveland Indians fans know they can’t count on:

One, Tyler Naquin hitting third as he did in Thursday’s season-opening shutout loss to the Minnesota Twins. 

“I thought with Naquin, just his psyche, I thought he could handle it,” Terry Francona said, via The Athletic, after the lefty struck out three times.

Two, an outfield of Jake Bauers, Leonys Martin and Naquin trotting out to their positions in October.

Three, October.

Take as much solace as you can find in Francona having a feel-good list longer than that one. 

And in fairness we should keep in mind the Indians lineup in the 2-0 defeat was missing Frankie Lindor, Jason Kipnis and Carlos Gonzalez, though it's not as if we can pretend to know Gonzales' impact or even his future with the Indians.

This is still the American League, and teams with playoff aspirations often have to land haymakers along the way to still be standing at the end of the regular season.

 Thursday, you would've settled for jabs.

“I have five good reasons to feel good: Corey Kluber, Trevor Bauer, Carlos Carrasco, Mike Clevinger and Shane Bieber,” Francona said in reiterating a take he recently shared with a national baseball writer.

True enough. Just probably not enough.

The Indians finished third in runs scored last season, fifth in 2017 and 2016. 

If a similar ranking occurs again after the departures of Michael Brantley, Edwin Encarnacion, Yan Gomes and Yonder Alonso (and others), expect Chris Antonetti and Mike Chernoff to bump Copperfield off the Vegas marquis sometime soon. It will be quite a sleight of roster.

We didn’t require a shutout loss to understand why Francona felt the need to instantly upgrade the signings of Hanley Ramirez, who didn’t play after May of last year, and Gonzalez from “let’s see what they can bring” to “let’s hope we can use them in the middle of the order.”

Francona is not only one of the best managers in the game. He’s also one of the most positive. But the mixing and matching he’ll need to do with his nightly lineup, especially if injuries linger for Lindor (who is getting the often dreaded second opinion on his ankle), will be tournament chess that makes handling the bullpen look like checkers.

Until we see how well he does in that regard, we can say with certainty after surfing social media in the past week there’s one thing Indians ownership probably shouldn’t count on from the fan base:

The benefit of the doubt.

  • Bryce Harper went hitless in his Phillies debut and heard a smattering of boos, but only because Philly Fan was on his best behavior.

Harper will find out — as even Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt sometimes did long before him — that if he struggles for a lengthy stretch Phillies fans will see that smattering and raise it to a cacophony.

  • A Pro Football Talk headline tells us Tom Brady “may be skipping voluntary workouts again.”

No doubt to sit around doing ab crunches and drinking Vitamin Water, the slacker.

  •  According to reports, the Alliance of American Football (AAF) may not “make it through this weekend.”

This will come as a shock to everyone who didn’t know there was a AAF.

  • And the dire news comes just as Johnny Manziel was riding in to save the day on a white Shetland pony.
  • Conor McGregor announced his retirement in a Tweet wishing his competitors well and saying of those who preceded him into post-career ventures, “Proper Pina Coladas on me, fellas.”

And here I had him pegged for a “19 shots and a beer” kind of guy.

  • Some observers say they have heard this before from McGregor, that he pretty much has a tattoo for every time he talked of stepping away from MMA but that’s not true. He’s still a few tattoos short.
  • Arizona Cardinals coach Kliff Kingsbury will allow players “cell phone breaks” during team meetings.

“They’re itching to get to those things,” he explained. “You start to see kind of hands twitching and legs shaking, and you know they need to get that social media fix, so we’ll let them hop over there and then get back in the meeting and refocus.”

Kingsbury’s idea is being met with the expected clucking from traditionalists who believe a team so undisciplined it can’t forego cell phones during business hours stands no chance of being successful in the NFL.

Some were so outraged, they no doubt Tweeted their snark while driving instead of Tweeting their snark at every red light.

  • Steelers coach Mike Tomlin is trotting out an old saying about setting things right in Pittsburgh.

“We can’t do this with hostages, we need volunteers,” Tomlin told reporters.

Pro Football Talk points out this must mean the Steelers will forego taking hostages in the April draft and get by on free agents.

But we know what he’s trying to say after parting with Antonio Brown and Le'Veon Bell: that he wants players who want to be there.

I haven’t heard an overstated reference to hostages since the Indians traded unhappy Jesse Orosco in 1991 and his agent said, “Terry Anderson wasn't the last hostage freed -- it was Jesse Orosco from the bondage of the Cleveland Indians.”

  • But I mean it’s not like Tomlin pulled a Ron Meyer, the former Indianapolis Colts head coach who once was asked if he thought he made the right call starting rookie QB Jeff George. Meyer said such decisions are always more hunch than prophecy.

Said Meyer, “It isn’t like I came down from Mount Sinai with the tabloids.” 

  • Boomer Esiason on a CBS Sports Minute explained Mike Trout’s decision to remain in California, saying the Angels star decided to stay put after seeing what Manny Machado and Bryce Harper “endured” during their free agency.

Because some horrors aren’t easily forgotten.

  • Arizona outfielder Steven Souza suffered a season-ending knee injury when he slipped crossing home plate during an exhibition game.

If it’s any consolation to him, in Atlanta one year utility infielder Randy Johnson dislocated his thumb putting on his socks and spent six weeks on the disabled list.

And I’m pretty sure it’s not.

  • My favorite freak baseball injury story involves Clarence Blethen, a rookie pitcher for the Red Sox a century ago who forgot he had his false teeth in his back pocket and slid into second base. His forgetfulness came back to bite him in the a__.
  • Baseball history says Blethen only reached base that one time in 1923 and was quickly removed from the game due to excessive bleeding. And not of the gums.
  • Fearless prediction: The Indians will win the division by a handful of games. And Paul Dolan will have even more explaining to do if he doesn't make a move or three that gives this team a better chance to win a World Series while the fans "enjoy" Lindor while they can.

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