Cleveland Indians: Christmas rundown and things to look forward to

The offseason doesn’t always have to be doom and gloom for the Cleveland Indians. We try to spread some holiday cheer as we await more trade rumors.

Merry Christmas Eve, everyone. If there’s one thing I’m asking Santa for, it’s that the Cleveland Indians don’t trade away all my favorite players and show some semblance of being competitive next year. But if it’s too much, I’ll take one of those sweet red jerseys instead.

It’s looking like we won’t see any big names signed until after the New Year, which means we will have to wait to see if Manny Machado joins the AL Central to step on the ankles of all of our first basemen.

As for the Indians themselves, it doesn’t sound like they’ve made many moves. Andrew Miller signed with the Cardinals and Cody Allen along with Oliver Perez remain on the open market. Needless to say, the Indians still have some work to do in fixing their once-dominant bullpen.

The outfield isn’t much better but I guess it could be used as-is for right now. Leony’s Martin and Greg Allen can it fight out for who plays in center field. The newly acquired Jake Bauers could also see himself in the outfield.

Oh, and we haven’t even mentioned the never-ending Corey Kluber trade rumors. Yes, it certainly sounds like it will be a wild ending to 2018 or a wild start to 2019. But hey, the Browns won seven games!

It’s not all bad news. The Indians still have two young stars they can build around. If they want to keep their rotation intact for the next 3 years, they could. The Indians could use seven starters if they wanted to. So I understand the desire to traded some of them away.

If you’re looking for a good holiday gift, I recommend getting a Jose Ramirez or Francisco Lindor jersey for your loved one. They’ll be sticking around for a while so your gift will be safe for a few years.

Finally, while we at Believeland Ball celebrate the holidays, we want you all to have a safe and Merry Christmas. If sports are a topic of conversation keep things lighthearted and don’t talk about the impending doom of losing our favorite players and possibly seeing the White Sox as the favorites for the AL Central. Instead, talk about Baker Mayfield. Merry Christmas!