Pitchers get hurt. They come in hurt and don't tell anyone hoping it is just soreness. They tweak something the first week of spring traning. They tweak something during the first, bone-chillng month of the season. Then there is the wear and tear and old injuries flaring up and guys being overextended that leads to later season injuries. Pitchers get hurt.
The age-old expression is that you can never have too much pitching. You have to have a next man up mentality but in order to do that you have to have a next man to be up.
The Indians don't have enough of those next men, especially in the bullpen. Let's examine that.
Most teams have 20+ pitchers on their 40-man roster. The Indians have 16 not counting Carlos Vargas who is on the 60-day DL. Three of those guys (Konnor PIlkington, Cody Morris and Tobias Myers) have zero big league experience. That leaves 13 guys and most big league pitching staffs carry at least 13 pitchers (5 starters and 8 relievers) and this year if they expand the opening day rosters to 30, you are likely looking at 15 pitchers.
Did I mention that pitchers get hurt? And like I said, we don't have enough men up.
Even with the next men up that we do have, not all of these guys are relievers. Eli Morgan is a starter and, as a reliever, is at best a mopup man. Morris, Pilkington and Myers....who knows.
Plus we have guys coming back from injuries (Sanlin, Beiber), guys who still need to prove themselves (Allen, Hentges, Gose, Karinchak) and, of course, the minor league 3.
Looking at our non-roster invitees, where the Indians normally find 1-2 relievers every year, the pickings are slim. Any major league pitching staff that has Alex Young on it is a pitching staff short on talent. Ditto for Enyel De Los Santos, Ian Gibaut and Jake Newell. These guys are all minor league filler. None of them is the next Blake Parker let alone a replacement for Brian Shaw. If the Indians are thinking about going with youth they can look to Robert Broom, Justn Garza or Nick Mikolajchak or one or more of the aforementioned minor league starters (Tully, Scott, McCarty, Battenfield), Unfortunately none of these guys, to me, are worth removing a guy for our 40-man, which is the next issue.
Plus, when you think about how stacked our 40 man roster is with true major leagues and uber prospects, the only way you increase the pitchers is to jettison guys like Logan Allen (the elder), Oscar Mercado,
Hey, I am not talking about quality here, which is another issue entirely. I am talking about quantity that has any resemblance to quality. It doesn't take a baseball savant to see that this pitching staff is in real trouble and the longer we wait to sign somnebody, the less time that veteran has to get ready and the greater the chance that THEY will get hurt and then clog a roster spot and not be helpfu.
The only way this doesn't go south on us is to complete a megatrade with some team (our prospects for their veterans) where we also get 1-2 relievers thrown in from the other team.
I still think we pull off a deal where we trade multiple prospects on our 40-man for one star veteran (cough, Juan Soto, cough). Whether we get a relief pitcher back in that trade or sign one or more after the trade don't know.
What I do know is that you need pitchers to never have too many pitchers. Even without injuries the Indians don't have enough right now.
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