I’ll be honest. There was a stretch during August when I thought a lineup shuffle might do Oscar Mercado and the Cleveland Indians some good.
The Indians had lengthened their lineup with the acquisitions of Yasiel Puig and Franmil Reyes. Jason Kipnis was hitting well, and Jose Ramirez had reemerged as a game-changing threat at the plate.
Cleveland suddenly found itself with options in its batting order, and Mercado’s 44 wRC+ in August could not possibly have survived in the two-hole for much longer. It was by far his worst month of the season at the plate, and consequently brought about concern that he had run into the fabled “rookie wall.