Takeaways from meeting with Indians’ Chris Antonetti, Mike Chernoff

Indians president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti and general manger Mike Chernoff held their end-of-the-season meeting with reporters on Friday.

In the wake of the excitement and disappointment of the Indians’ Game 7 loss to the Chicago Cubs in the World Series, the Indians now are set to head into the offseason.

Here are some takeaways from the meeting.

— Like everyone else, Antonetti and Chernoff went nuts when Rajai Davis hit his eighth-inning home run to tie it in Game 7.

“I almost fell out of the booth that we were in,” said Chernoff.

— On the pain of the loss, Antonetti said, “I mean, we are all hyper-competitive people. We all wanted to be hoisted that World Series trophy, so it hurt when we lost. It hurt on a personal level for us individually, it hurt when you look around the organization and Paul and Larry who care so much and are native Clevelanders and have been in Cleveland for their entire lives and care so much about winning. Tito and the players, the entirely of the organization, you can't help but feel that pain. But with the benefit of a couple days, you can begin to think about a great sense of pride and accomplishment in what our team was able to overcome. And all of the hard work from an inordinate number of people, from our scouts to our development staff to our front office to our trainers, our clubhouse guys. Every single person in the organization contributed to our success. We went to Game 7 of the World Series, that in and of itself is an accomplishment. No the ultimate one we're striving for, but still a great organizational accomplishment.”

— The Indians have expressed interest in bringing back both Mike Napoli and Rajai Davis, and have had discussions with both.

Antonetti: “Obviously, the offseason is just getting started for us, but we have a lot of decisions to make and I think both for Raj and Mike we expressed our desire to potentially to have them back and we recognize they both have alternatives, based on the years that they had but we're certainly open to exploring different ways where both of them could be back here.”

— The Indians are still working through decisions regarding the $17.2 million qualifying offer as it pertains to Napoli. They have until Monday to make those decisions. If the Indians extend Napoli a qualifying offer and he accepts, then he’ll be paid that amount on a one-year deal. If he declines and another team signs him, the Indians will receive draft pick compensation.

— The Indians on Friday exercised the club options in manager Terry Francona’s contract for the 2019 and 2020 seasons. Antonetti said Francona did a “masterful job” this season.

“I mean really throughout the regular season, the postseason, the way in which Tito is constantly thinking about how to place individual players in a place to be successful to most impact the team is extraordinary,” Antonetti said. “He's does that first and foremost by building really deep relationships with guys where they know he cares, he has their best interest in mind and is always going to find a way for them to be in their best versions of themselves. He talks about that all the time, he wants to be able to have a reason to brag about guys and he's constantly thinking about ways to do that. But I think just to focus on the job he's done in the postseason, I think is selling Tito short. He's done that from the day he got here. And as high as our expectations were for Tito when we hired him, he's gone beyond that, having a chance to work with him and work alongside him every day, it's really fortunate to have him."

— The Indians also promoted Carter Hawkins and Matt Forman to assistant general manager. Hawkins will continue to oversee player development. Forman will continue to oversee much of the club’s scouting and acquisition processes. Both will now also have a larger voice in other areas. Derek Falvey left to be the Minnesota Twins’ chief baseball officer.

— Michael Brantley is on schedule for his rehab. The expectation is that he’ll resume baseball activities at some point in December and be “fully ready” for spring training. The Indians are also planning on him being an everyday player while also trying to plan for contingencies. Brantley is still interested in being an outfielder instead of moving to first base.

— The Indians see Tyler Naquin as being able to play all three outfield spots. Roster composition could be the determining factor in where he sees the most time.

— The plan for Carlos Carrasco is that he should be able to start throwing in December and have a relatively normal offseason.

— Carrasco and Salazar could be two players asked to play in next spring’s World Baseball Classic, among others. The Indians haven’t gotten that far to have discussions or receive requests for them to participate.

Said Antonetti: I think generally we’re really supportive of the WBC and think it’s a great opportunity for players to represent their countries and we’re cognizant of the impact it’s had for Major League Baseball and growing the game, but on a player-specific level, we haven’t gotten to that point.”

— The Indians could have an interesting spring with Yan Gomes and Roberto Perez both healthy. With those two healthy, it’s viewed as one of the Indians’ strengths.

Antonetti: “I think we feel similarly this year as we did last year, which is, that’s a position of strength for us where we have two really good, high-quality, capable major league catchers. And Yan had some adversity this year, with a couple of injuries he really couldn’t control, but we still feel very confident with him and his ability to lead the pitching staff behind the plate. And then Roberto had some challenges of his own with his injury, us having to cut short that rehab, but he returned and came back and led a pitching staff all the way through game 7 of the World Series, which says a lot about him as a catcher and his leadership. So it’s a a position of strength for us moving forward.”

— Jose Ramirez isn’t necessarily locked into playing third base everyday. The club values his versatility and while the current construction would have him at third base, his ability to play multiple positions allows the Indians to look for different ways to improve the roster. As with anything, they’re leaving the door open to explore those options should they arise.

— After the Game 7 loss, Antonetti and Chernoff were walking around the clubhouse, talking and shaking hands with players. Here was their message, per Antonetti: “We all talked individually, but that was what I shared with them. 'Hold your heads high, we have a lot to be proud of.' Each guy had their own story and how they contributed. Corey Kluber and what we asked him to do and the workload that he bore, not only during the regular season, but during the postseason, that's extraordinary. Because the last game didn't end the way we all hoped, that doesn't take away from what he did. Those were the types of messages that I think I conveyed.”

Chernoff added, “We stand for a lot, we try to stand for a lot as an organization. We try not to back down from a challenge. We try to be resilient and persevere through adversity and we try to do it collectively. We saw a team that embodied that throughout the year, certainly through the postseason and especially in Game 7 of the World Series. So I think in a lot of ways it was something that hopefully our team, our organization and the fans can take pride in. As challenging and as tough as it is to lose that last game, I do think there's a lot to be proud of and that was the message we tried to give each of the players.”

— On if the revenue from a postseason run can help with future payroll and offseason plans, Antonetti said, “I think it helps. The Dolans have been very consistent in how they're operated the team and that any revenues that we're able to generate get invested back into the team. Advancing in the postseason certainly will help that. … I’m not sure how much impact the new minority owner will have. As Paul has said, that's not going to fundamentally change how we operate. But to the extend our revenues increase, whether it's through postseason ticket sales or increased ticket sales for next year, that will have a positive impact on it.”