By now you’re probably aware that Indians veteran Jason Giambi was recently diagnosed with a broken rib and will likely open the season in the minor leagues or on the disabled list.

Many Indians fans expected Giambi to make the 25-man Opening Day roster, which seems unlikely now. But his ill fortune could well be someone’s gain, albeit only temporarily. Who stands to benefit from Giambi’s injury?

This depends on large part whether Tribe manager Terry Francona wants to have eight arms in the bullpen, or only seven. If the former, the five starting pitchers and eight relievers will comprise a 13-man pitching staff, leaving room for 12 position players. Assuming that Kipnis, Swisher, Bourn, Santana, Aviles, Raburn, Gomes, Cabrera, Brantley, Chisenhall, and Murphy will make the team, that means there is room for only one more.

Perhaps Jeff Francoeur could make the roster as a utility outfielder and part-time DH. At age 30, this will be his tenth season in the majors should he make the team. Although he hasn’t shown much of it in recent seasons, Frenchy has been known to swing the bat with some power and authority, and might serve as a sort of “Giambi, Jr.” until the real one gets back.

But the Indians really should open the season with another backup infielder, and that looks to me like keeping offseason acquisition David Adams on the roster. Although his big league experience is mininal, consisting as it does of 43 games with the Yankees last season, I get the impression that the Indians like what they see in Adams, and if it comes to choosing either him or Francoeur for the final roster spot, my money is on Adams. I suppose they could both make the team if they decide to go with Santana at third and shopping Chisenhall as trade bait, but I don’t see that happening.

Of course, Elliot Johnson is also contending for a utility infielder slot, and Nyjer Morgan can’t be ruled out as a sixth outfielder. It’ll be interesting to see what happens over the next two or three weeks.

Let’s hear your thoughts!

14 Comments

  • I have Francona carrying 12 pitchers, based on some comments from Rosie on the radio and Jordan Bastian’s blog, and I think they do so solely because of Giambi’s limited use as DH only. I also have David Cooper making the squad out of spring, not David Adams. Cooper has more experience, hitting .300 with Toronto in 2012.

    That said, I wrote the other day specifically about Morgan, Johnson, and Francouer.

    Each is a light hitter, historically. Only Johnson is having a spring. I agree they’ll possibly keep an extra middle infielder, and my guess is it is Sellers, now, following the Giambi injury.

    Seller’s, Johnson, and Rohlinger are the last three sent packing is my guess.

  • Andrew says:

    What about Justin Sellers? He has good hands.

  • Steve T. says:

    Who benefits? I think the Tribe management does. As much as they like Giambi’s clubhouse presence, with the team looking really competitive at a number of positions they should have no trouble using that roster spot for someone a little more versatile on the field. I’m not a Giambi hater, but I really wonder how much he could have helped the team in a limited role, “presence” notwithstanding.

  • Gvl Steve says:

    Sign Kendrys Morales.

  • SteveO says:

    Of all the possibilities mentioned in this post, am I the only one who really likes Elliot Johnson more than any of the other guys? He at least has quite a bit more MLB experience than David Adams, and is a versatile defensive replacement off the bench.

  • Sean Porter says:

    Speaking of injuries, its being reported that Jose Iglesias, starting shortstop of the Tigers will miss at least half the season, if not the entire season, due to leg (shin) injuries.

  • Gvl Steve says:

    RE: Iglesias: That’s a shame. But rest assured that Pizza-Pizza will throw millions of dollars at the problem and produce a new shortstop by the time the ink dries on this post, probably S. Drew. P.S. Make sure you boycott Little Caesar’s. Don’t feed the sickness.

  • Kyle says:

    How about Justin Sellers? I know he doesn’t have much to show for his MLB career but he is doing some solid things in Arizona. Don’t you at least have to look at him? More upside with the bat than Adams has, and his glove doesn’t seem terrible. Either way I think it should be a utility INF

  • D.P. Roberts says:

    My big question with Iglesias is this: how did a guy with two broken legs – ones that were known to cause him pain all last year – get medially cleared when he was traded?

    Secondly (and maybe this is heresy, since we’re talking about two teams in the same division):

    The Tigers need a shortstop. I know of a team that has a SS in the last year of his contract – a team that has another guy waiting in the wings to take over the SS position next year, and a pretty good crop of utility infielders who can take over the SS position for the rest of this year…

    • Sean Porter says:

      I thought that, laughingly of course, too D.P. Roberts… There’s no way in h-e-double hockey sticks the Tribe will make a trade with Detroit now, though, but it did cross my mind.

      Unless of course the Tigers want to talk about giving us Castellanos!

  • alex gerken says:

    i think they should trade chisenhall and cabrera and call up lindor and bryan lahair

    • The Doctor says:

      chisenhall has zero trade value and lahair is a quad-A bum who’s probably worse than chisenhall.

      i’d be happy to jettison cabrera for pennies on the dollar just because i hate him so much, but in the interest of fielding a good baseball team, it makes a lot more sense to trade him near the deadline (assuming he’s playing well – and cabrera strikes me as just the sort of mope who’s going to turn it up in a contract year) than it does to trade him now, coming off a down season.

  • The Doctor says:

    who benefits? fans of competently played baseball would be my guess.