Ranking the Best Remaining Players Indians Could Bring In for Spring Training

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The Cleveland Indians have a couple of needs to fill prior to the start of the 2014 season, namely in the starting rotation and on the bench.

The Indians' rotation, as it currently stands, has four pitchers who will definitely be included, those being Justin Masterson, Danny Salazar, Corey Kluber and Zach McAllister. After that—barring any moves—the fifth spot will be decided through a spring training battle between Trevor Bauer, Carlos Carrasco, Josh Tomlin and Shaun Marcum.

Given their youth, Bauer and Carrasco have some upside, but both may benefit from further seasoning at Triple-A. Marcum and Tomlin are looking to restart on injury-riddled careers, and at this point, there's no telling what either brings to the table.

The safe bet for the Indians, who are hoping to make another run at the postseason in 2014, is to bring in another starter.

The bench is currently composed of Ryan Raburn, Jason Giambi and Mike Aviles. The team may choose to incorporate recent addition David Cooper, and in-house Jose Ramirez, but some additional depth to choose from would be a plus.

The six players in the list that follows are the best—and most realistic—remaining options to fill the voids on the Indians' roster. These six players are ranked from the worst option to the best.

Let's get started.

 

Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com and Fangraphs.com unless otherwise noted.