Cleveland Indians: What to make of the latest Trevor Bauer news

The rotation of domination just isn’t the same without Trevor Bauer. Fortunately for the Cleveland Indians, they’ve received positive updates on the righty.

It’s about that time of year where we’re all thinking about the playoff roster. The Cleveland Indians roster will undoubtedly consist of their remarkable starters, and hopefully, that includes the secret weapon, Trevor Bauer.

In case anyone forgot, Bauer hasn’t pitched since August 11th after injuring his right leg in a game against the White Sox. He was in the midst of a career year. Had he not received the injury, there’s a good possibility he’d be the Cy Young front-runner.

But we can’t change the past. What is important is that Bauer pitched a simulated game from the Progressive Field mound yesterday, and he’s that much closer to making his return. Bauer pitched three simulated innings with about 17-19 pitches per inning.

He topped out at about 92 MPH, which is a good sign of his progress. Everyone who has watched Bauer knows about his competitive attitude. If he had it his way, he would’ve pitched in the game against the White Sox last night. Now from what we’ve heard from manager Terry Francona, the next step is for the medical staff, coaching staff, and Bauer himself to gather and decide what the next step should be.

Francona says he’d like to have Bauer make at least three appearances before the season ends. That’s an optimistic time-frame, it would be similar to what the Red Sox have done to transition Chris Sale back to action. Surely Bauer wouldn’t be too pleased to be on a pitch count. But if he can work with that in the regular season, there’s a chance he’d be ready for full-time action in the ALDS.

It’s also been said that the Indians will go with a four-man rotation in the postseason. That will give Bauer an extra day of rest should he be back in time for the ALDS. This is great news and can leave us all feeling optimistic after how we saw the three-man rotation collapse last postseason.

It’s looking like the Indians starters are settling in nicely and are lineup up perfectly for the playoffs. Josh Tomlin is still in the rotation as a placeholder, presumably until Bauer makes his return. There’s no need to rush him back, but if you ask Bauer I’m sure than to be featured on the lineup card for tonight.

In the coming days, it’ll be interesting to see if Bauer’s next step is to come out of the bullpen or start the game as an opener on a pitch count. Regardless, we can all breathe a sigh of relief when we finally see him back out on the mound for a real game.