The Indians Need to Move SS Francisco Lindor Out of the Leadoff Spot in 2020

As the Indians get ready to report to spring training in February, the team needs to make a move early to set the tone on the offense, that is moving Francisco Lindor away from batting leadoff.

The Cleveland Indians need to find a new home for Francisco Lindor.

No, we are not talking about trading the four time All-Star shortstop, who is one of the best players in the game. Rather, we are suggesting skipper Terry Francona find a new spot in the batting order for Lindor, a move that would help the Tribe score more runs.

Francona likes Lindor leading off because he "sets the tone" for the team, and we understand that line of thinking. But everyone knows the shortstop is the team's leader, it's unofficial captain, so why not bat him in a spot the benefits the club more?

First, the job of the leadoff man is to get on base. Lindor's .335 on base percentage last season is nothing special. His lifetime figure is .347, good but not optimal for a guy hitting first.

Cesar Hernandez, recently signed by the Indians to play second base, has a career .352 OBP. Kenny Lofton, the great leadoff man for Cleveland in the 90's, had a .375 mark during his time in northeast Ohio.

However, our biggest reason to drop Lindor in the order is his slugging percentage, which at .518 led the Indians.

It is odd to us that the Tribe's best on base guy, Carlos Santana, batted in the #3 or #4 hole all season, while the player with the best slugging percentage led off virtually every game.

Lindor's walk rate of 7% was his lowest since his rookie season figure of 6.2%. In 2018, he had his best rate at 9.4%.

We understand in today's game, the slugging percentage leader on a team doesn't hit in the #4 hole, and we aren't asking for the manager to hit Lindor there. You want him getting more plate appearances than most players.

Still, wouldn't you want your best power hitter batting with men on base? With Lindor leading off, you are guaranteeing that once a game he comes up with no one on. That doesn't seem optimal.

For us, if you went an two seasons ('18 and '19) with Lindor hitting first, wouldn't it be more prudent to have Santana there?

Santana got on base almost 40% of the time (.397 OBP) last season, and has a career on base percentage of .367. And his slugging percentage was virtually the same (.515) as Lindor's .518 mark.

One of Cleveland biggest problems offensively was getting on base, they ranked 8th in the American League in on base average, dropping from 3rd in 2018.

That's why getting Hernandez was a solid move, his lifetime mark in that category was 48 points more than the man he replaced in Jason Kipnis.

The Indians had only one player, Santana, among the regulars (Yasiel Puig isn't counted because he played only two months here, but had a .377 OBP) that got on base more than 35% of the time.

By contrast, Houston, New York, and Boston all had five, and Minnesota had three. That's a pretty telling statistic.

Jose Ramirez topped the .350 mark in 2016, 2017, and 2018, so if he's very capable of getting on base at a high rate, but that's why we'd be looking in that direction if the Indians are looking for another outfielder.

It's also why we keep coming back to Puig.

We would move Lindor to the #2 or #3 position in the batting order, and would hit Ramirez or Santana (or both) ahead of him.

It might just be a good way to kick start the Indians' attack.