CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Indians have set a winning standard for the organization over the last three regular seasons, and it has resulted in three American League Division championships and a trio of postseason appearances.
Although the Indians underwent a significant roster overhaul in the offseason, one of the newest acquisitions, infielder Jake Bauers, quickly came to understand the mission remains the same: to bring home a World Series Championship.
“It looks like it’s all about winning, and that’s important,” Bauers said of the Indians’ culture.
“It’s important to me. I like to think of myself as a winner. I like to think of myself as someone who knows how to win, and so, anytime you’re in a clubhouse where it’s very clear that winning is the ultimate goal, that’s a good thing. That’s a good place for me to be.”
After the end of the 2018 season, the Indians traded catcher Yan Gomes (Washington Nationals) and DH Edwin Encarnacion (Seattle Mariners), as well as infielders Yonder Alonso (Chicago White Sox) and Yandy Diaz (Tampa Bay Rays).
Also, the Indians suffered heavy losses in free agency, as outfielder Michael Brantley (Houston) and pitchers Cody Allen (L.A. Angels) and Andrew Miller (St. Louis Cardinals) each found new homes during the offseason.
With all of that change, there is some work being done integrating the newest players to the organization.
“We’re trying to meet it head-on,” Indians manager Terry Francona said. “We’ve talked in all our one-on-one meetings. We’ve talked to guys because we’ve lost some guys that had some terrific leadership qualities, guys like (Josh) Tomlin, Brantley. There’s no getting around that, and we don’t need to anoint leaders.
“In my opinion, being a great teammate, that is leading, and then, over the course of the season, leaders emerge because they did it the right way. The best way to lead is by example. The guy that stands up in the meeting or talks to you guys, in my opinion, isn’t always the leader, but the guys that do it right and do it by example, they’re the guys. We’ve been blessed here having guys like Nap (Mike Napoli), (Jason) Giambi, Brantley, Tomlin. We have guys in there. They’ll emerge. We don’t need to anoint them.”
By trying to meet head on the challenges of integrating new talent, Francona means putting in extra work to make sure players are put in positions to succeed throughout the day’s drills in spring training.
Indians bench coach Brad Mills arrives at Goodyear Ballpark in Goodyear, Arizona at 4:30 in the morning in order to help prepare the schedule for the day, and that is just part of how Francona and his staff go about building up a club that underwent significant changes for the first time in several years.
“We do some silly things to build camaraderie, things in the clubhouse during spring training, but we just really work as a staff and we tell them, ‘We’re going to bust our ass to have an atmosphere where you guys want to do the right thing and enjoy doing the right thing,’” Francona said.
“That’s really what we try to do.”
