CLEVELAND, Ohio – Every game is a test for a great league manager. Terry Francona will be tested in more ways than that for the rest of this season.
First is his health. Francona returned to the dugout on Tuesday after missing eight games, during which he underwent a procedure at the Cleveland Clinic for a year-long gastrointestinal problem. Meanwhile, his hip has become less to bone-on-bone, and that causes his back.
When he rejoined the team on Tuesday, he told reporters he was not the image of health.
Now Francona has a team in a riot over the actions of Mike Clevinger and Zach Plesac, two-fifths of what was once the best rotation in the American League – a rotation that, at least for the moment, is the only one the Indians’ tumbling to the lower regions of the AL Central.
Adam Plutko, following the Cubs’ 7-1 loss on Tuesday night, was asked what Clevinger and Plesac could do to return to the clubhouse after potentially exposing the team’s traveling side to the coronavirus by a night on the city in Chicago on Saturday.
It sounds like that will do something.
“They got us wrong,” Plutko said. ‘They left for us. They sat here in front of your boys and said in public things they did not follow. ‘
Clevinger and Plesac were vocal supporters of the Indians code of conduct that each team was required to write before the start of the season. Clevinger’s quote says that if you can not trust a player from the field, how can you trust him between the lines will hang in the air for a long time.
Plutko, who started in place of Clevinger on Tuesday, added, ‘I let them sit here and tell you how they will regain their trust. I do not need to put words in her mouth. ”
It’s rare that feelings like Plutko’s are expressed outside a clubhouse in the big leagues. Before the match, Francisco Lindor took a more tactical approach. He said every player should look in a mirror and not look at the reflection they see, but the people behind that reflection – teammates like Carlos Carrasco, who was diagnosed with leukemia last year; family members; coaches; and employees. He said this is a time to be yourself, not selfish.
In the world of swords, Pluto swung a broadsword, while Lindor used a rapier. Their point was the same. Plesac and Clevinger broke a trust with their teammates.
Is it a fractured clubhouse? Will this prevent, along with a tragic crime, the Indians from reaching the messages to the range? A postseason that has been expanded to 16 teams?
In the break, Francona steps in. He is good at this, but does he have the strength and time to recover what needs to be done? The Indians play their 19th game of the season on Wednesday. If they play Detroit on Friday, one-third of the 60-game season will be complete.
The Indians have already taken action against Plesac and Clevinger. They were not forced by MLB to put Plesac or Clevinger in quarantine or on the restricted list. They felt confident that they were not exposed to the virus, but this was their way of getting their intent and going above and beyond to protect the people who work in the organization.
Is that enough to satisfy the 26 other players in the clubhouse when it’s time for Plesac and Clevinger to be activated? If the riot continues, what is the next step? Has this reached the level where Clevinger or Plesac should be traded by the August 31 deadline?
Or would that be related to cutting your nose around despite your face? Are you sacrificing a season to make a point?
Teams have won before when their players did not like each other. But there is most respect among those players for what they can do on the field. Right now, in the midst of a pandemic, that respect seems to be lacking in the Tribal Clubhouse for two of its members.
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