Though the baseball season is not yet 30 games old, it’s time to have an awkward conversation.
Well, awkward if you’re a big fan (or parent) of Jake Bauers, Yu Chang, or Andrés Giménez.
Of the nearly 1,000 innings logged between the four infield positions, that trio makes up 41.5% of the playing time. Of the 1,026 total plate appearances logged by Cleveland batters, that trio makes up 171 — a full 16%. In a sport in which even the best players will fail roughly two-thirds of the time, the breaking point has come and Cleveland cannot keep devoting precious plate appearances to Bauers, Chang, and Giménez, who have a wRC+ of 63, 7 (!