Michael Brantley Can Jog: A Timeline of Mishaps and Mistakes

Favorable outcomes do not always justify the process. Much like ends not justifying means, simply because something was the end result does not mean the process we took can be rationalized.

I have a friend whose life was saved following a car accident. If you’re confused, I don’t blame you. Long story short: When taken to the hospital, a blood clot was discovered, one that if given a few more days, could have likely ended his life. “If he hadn’t gotten in an accident, he might have been dead!” was a common refrain from family members when considering how close he had come to death. The outcome—finding out he had death waiting in his veins—was brought about by a horrible process.

So why tell this story in connection to Michael Brantley? For one: Transitions are hard. Secondly: The “good” outcome for Brantley in 2018—a season commensurate to the $12 million he will be paid—would come from a “not good” process.

Let’s take a look at the whole timeline to get a feel of just how bad this whole process has been and why, even if Brantley has a good season,¹ the decision to pick up his option has been met with such vociferous angst.²

https://twitter.com/THEGerbsWFNY/status/963854570668601349

August 8, 2017

After what has been a mostly successful season for the former MVP candidate, .299/.357/.444 slash line with a wRC+ of 111, Michael Brantley goes to back up a play in center and crumples in a heap. I remember watching the game on TV and immediately saying, “Well that looked decisively not good.”³

Brantley is removed from the game in the fifth inning and subsequently put on the disabled list the next day after MRI results indicating that it was nothing major. If you don’t want to take my word for it, check out this ESPN article saying exactly that: “Michael Brantley’s injury isn’t serious after all.”

Haunting words for what follows.⁴

September 30, 2017

After almost two months on the disabled list for what was initially deemed a non-serious injury, Brantley is activated. Most sprained ankles are given a four-to-six week timetable to return, while Brantley’s takes two months.

In Game 161, Brantley makes his inauspicious return to the lineup and gets a hit in the only plate appearance he records. Within the final two games of the season, Brantley gets three total plate appearances with just the one hit. It was enough for manager Terry Francona to put the oft-injured player on the ALDS roster over Yandy Diaz, who would have fit the roster and lineup much better. The logic, for lack of a better word, is sound: if Brantley is healthy, you have him coming off the bench in the playoffs.

[Narrator: “He was not healthy.”]

October 6, 2017

Brantley is a starter again after a scary looking injury to Edwin Encarnacion which occurred as he tried to slide into second base against the New York Yankees. Had Brantley not been on the roster, inputting Diaz to Encarnacion’s spot would have kept the lineup looking the same from a handedness stand point, ultimately with more production than what Brantley would provide.

Yes, the haters⁵ will say that hindsight is 20/20 and they would have done the same thing given the information Francona had. But why? Brantley’s past seasons should not come into play in those moments. You look at the player in front of you and you have to ask yourself, “if we need a hit, do I trust this player?” Instead, Brantley looked lost. He looked out of step. He looked like he had just had two months away from the game and couldn’t pick up fastballs. He should not have been on the postseason roster.

October 19, 2017

Brantley has surgery on his ankle. An ankle injury originally deemed “not serious” carried over for more than three months AND REQUIRED SURGERY.⁶

It was reported at this time that Brantley would need five months to recover from surgery, which put his timeline at the start of March to be able to do anything baseball related.

A quick recap if your eyes glazed over and foam started coming from your mouth: Brantley got hurt in August, took two months to return from said non-serious injury, and was inexplicably put in a position to win games for the team with the best record in the AL only to have surgery to fix the initial ankle injury—the one that was “not serious”.

It gets worse.

November 5, 2017

Just over two weeks from having surgery, Michael Brantley received a gift. That gift was an extra $11 million (he was due at least a $1 million buyout if the club did not pick up his option) and a spot on the 2018 Cleveland Indians 40–man roster.

The performance Brantley gave in 2017 before getting injured was worth picking up the option. However, given the information the team had at this point in the yea, how can someone rationalize giving Brantley the option? Especially when you could have turned it down and done a pillow deal wherein Brantley could make that same money at a lower base salary with incentives for performance? That type of deal has been done before and would have allowed the budget-tight team to make other moves this offseason to shore up production without having to dangle Jason Kipnis and Edwin Encarnacion as salary dump specialists, especially given how far market rates have dropped this winter.⁷

February 14, 2018

Ah Valentine’s Day. The day for lovers. Or the day we get word from mlb.com beat writer Jordan Bastian that Michael Brantley can jog. Not run or sprint or round bases. Jog.

Brantley has started doing some straight-ahead running already, but no cutting, sprinting, agility-type work yet.

— Jordan Bastian (@MLBastian) February 14, 2018

Bastian also reported that, while he has hit all check marks on his recovery, Brantley will not start a running progression for a couple weeks, which puts us at…the beginning of March, the original prognosis after surgery. For Brantley to return to left field in the same capacity he was previous, it will be well into the season before he makes his debut. Paying $12 million for a hitter who is returning from a (“non-serious”) injury that has taken over six months to recover from and who might not return until mid-season is hardly any kind of a good process, regardless of the outcome.

Hindsight being what it is, what the club will have gained from Brantley in 2018 is mitigated when you consider what they could have done without him on their financial books. Could they have made a play to retain Carlos Santana? The offer made was for three years and $36 million. Does three years and $48 million keep him in Cleveland when he had 3/$60 million from Philadelphia? Possibly.

Do they sign Lorenzo Cain? Finalists on the free agent outfielder, an extra $12 million sure would have been handy. The white whale of the offseason, JD Martinez, remains uncaptured. Could Cleveland sign him? Possibly, but less likely without removing payroll from the ledger in the form of Encarnacion or Kipnis. Those moves might not be necessary if Brantley was on a pillow contract.

All of this remains speculation and projections. The club and coaching staff themselves don’t know when Brantley will return, and what iteration of Brantley we will see when he is in the lineup. One thing I am certain of is this: regardless of what we get from Brantley, the process to get here has been a bad one. We can only hope some good comes out of it.

1. And in 2017, he did have a good season…in the 90 games he played. [↩]
2. Which sucks because I actually like Brantley as a player. [↩]
3. Editor’s note: No chance I believe Gerbs used “decisively” here. [↩]
4. Editor’s note: Yet right in line with how the Indians have handled injuries for much of the last decade. [↩]
5. I have those ever since Tito Boyzz got published. [↩]
6. My finger accidentally hit the caps lock button and I just rolled with it because I’m that upset. [↩]
7. No one one saw this coming. Especially the agents. [↩]