You be the GM: Build a plan to deliver a championship for the Cleveland Indians

Hello assorted peoples of the Greater Internet Expanse of Cleveland Indians Fandom. With the season concluded we may now proceed with our regularly-scheduled programming:

You Be the GM

Every one of us engages in some armchair front-office maneuvering throughout the year. This is your opportunity to show the rest of the Greater Internet Expanse of Cleveland Indians Fandom just how clever you are. Or aren’t. Maybe you’re out here to embarrass and publicly humiliate yourself because deep down you know you love it. Weird, but that’s still #content so I will allow it.

We encourage all of you to post your offseason plans as a FanPost as we will feature some of our favorite plans. Feel free to post literally any kind of plan. If you want to get weird please follow the best practices of Sci-Fi and have the “clocks strike thirteen” in the first sentence so we know what we’re dealing with.

[Insert your username]’s Offseason Plan

Arbitration-eligible (with projected salaries from MLBTR):
Please note that MLBTR now uses multiple formulae to develop a range of possible arbitration numbers.

• Austin Hedges – $3.0MM / $3.1MM / $3.0MM
• Adam Cimber – $800K / $1.0MM / $800K
• Delino DeShields – $2.0MM / $2.4MM / $2.1MM
• Francisco Lindor – $17.5MM / $21.5MM / $19.0MM
• Phil Maton – $700K / $1.0MM / $700K
• Tyler Naquin – $1.8MM / $2.4MM / $1.8MM
• Nick Wittgren – $1.4MM / $2.2MM / $1.5MM

Contract options (pick up or buy out):

• Carlos Santana: $17.5MM club option with a $500k buyout
• Brad Hand: $10MM club option with a $1MM buyout
• Domingo Santana: I guess you could have decided to keep him if you really, really wanted to do that. It would have been $1.5MM.

Free agents:

Peruse the list of potential free agents (Here by position with WAR) and identify at least a couple players you would pursue, along with the maximum offer you would extend to each of them, and a brief explanation of what you like about the/what role you see them filling for the Tribe.

Trades:

Feel free to propose any potential trades that you think sound reasonable for both sides, and the rationale behind them. If you’ve got a realistic hypothetical that includes the Indians picking up Mike Trout, I’m all ears, but be sure to do your best to keep things plausible here.

The 25-man roster and a Summary:

Here’s is the Tribe’s current 40-man roster with contract status included. Not all of those guys will be with the organization come 2020, much less on the active roster. Feel free to list your projected Opening Day 25-man roster, maybe even with a handy depth chart:

• SP1:
• SP2:
• SP3:
• SP4:
• SP5:
• Bullpen:
• C:
• 1B:
• 2B:
• 3B:
• SS:
• LF:
• CF:
• RF:
• DH:
• Bench:

***Hey you, person about to post your plan in the comments. Stop that. Make it a FanPost instead.