Cleveland Indians: The rehab stints continue in full force

The Cleveland Indians have been playing shorthanded for quite some time. Several players are attempting to make a return soon.

Danny Salazar has been in a perpetual state of rehab for several years. Cleveland Indians fans get to ride that rollercoaster again as Salazar returned last night with the Akron RubberDucks.

His name was mentioned in a large list of players making rehab appearances for the Indians at various levels of the minor league system.

Courtesy of Zack Meisel:

This tweet was sent out Monday evening before Salazar and Bradley Zimmer had their respective outings.

Like I said, get ready to ride the Salazar coaster once again.

Perhaps his best option is to remain a reliever and stick with short outings. His body nearly gave out on him when he made a start earlier this summer in what was a short return to the Indians. Then he wasn’t heard from for a bit, only to return with the RubberDucks.

If he went through his scoreless inning without any complications there is no reason why he can’t appear out of the bullpen in September. I don’t think anyone is counting on him, but it doesn’t hurt to see what he can do down the stretch. This is for sure going to be his last run with the Indians.

Now let’s check in on Zimmer:

A bit of a different stance there for the player who has had a long road back to the majors. He still isn’t there yet.

Zimmer is in an interesting situation now that Yasiel Puig and Oscar Mercado are fixtures in the outfield. His best chance for regular time would be to bump Greg Allen out of the lineup, though Tyler Naquin is also playing well enough to warrant playing time as well.

It is tough to let a player get significant playing time in the middle of a playoff push after the player, Zimmer, has been out for so long. Can he be relied upon in September and October?

That remains to be seen. The good news from all of this is that so many players are playing in live games. This should bring the Indians close to full strength for the end of the season. The next big piece to get back is Corey Kluber.