Major League Baseball’s non-tender deadline is around the corner on Dec. 2. That gives the Indians just two days to recover from the long Thanksgiving weekend, decide which outfielder they want to keep around, and make a couple phone calls.
Presumably, they have done this work ahead of time and waiting is a formality, but their looming decisions are not going to make or break them ahead of the 2021 season.
The Indians have six players entering arbitration who must be tendered contracts by Wednesday if they are to remain on with the team, with the potential to exchange arbitration figures early next year:
- Delino DeShields (Arbitration 3)
- Francisco Lindor (Arbitration 3)
- Austin Hedges (Arbitration 3)
- Tyler Naquin (Arbitration 2)
- Nick Wittgren (Arbitration 2)
- Phil Maton (Arbitration 1)
Nick Wittgren and Phil Maton seem like easy pickups — the former is slowly becoming a staple in the bullpen, and the latter is not worth losing without at least trying to sign him cheap in his first year of arbitration.