3 Cleveland Indians players who won’t be back next season

The Cleveland Indians will be changing their name next season, and these three players will not be back either.

After years of building backlash against their nickname, the Cleveland Indians will become known as the Cleveland Guardians in time for the 2022 season. The roster may look far different too.

This year’s Indians finished below .500 despite playing in the awful AL Central. Despite their payroll constraints, something has to change.

Indians/Guardians ownership is loathe to spend money, so there will certainly be some payroll-driven decisions hoisted on the front office this offseason. On that note, these three players will not be back next season.

3 Cleveland Indians who will not be Cleveland Guardians in 2022

3. RP Blake Parker

Amid a run of poor outings before he was DFA’d by the Minnesota Twins a couple years ago, I gave Parker the nickname “Blow The Lead Blake” and he was actually a bit worse for the Phillies over the rest of that season (5.04 ERA). But he was better last year in Philadelphia (2.81 ERA in 14 appearances) and since the Indians promoted him from Triple-A in June he has been quite good (2.33 ERA in 28 appearances).

Parker was brought in on a minor league deal by the Indians last offseason. If only for the fact he will have major league offers come his way this offseason, he won’t be a member of the Guardians’ bullpen in 2022.