CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Leonys Martin will not have another chance to argue with Francisco Lindor. He won’t have another chance to steal home, either.

Martin was designated for assignment on Saturday by the Indians to make room for rookie right-hander Aaron Civale, who is scheduled to start against the Tigers at 4:10 p.m.

“This was a difficult move for us organizationally with all we’ve been through with Leonys,” said Chris Antonetti, president of baseball operations, “but at this point we felt it was the right thing to do for our team. We have a lot of moving parts right now and we expect there to be some forthcoming moves that will rebalance our roster over the next few days.”

Antonetti said Martin’s poor offense, not his argument with Lindor on Thursday in the dugout at Globe Life Park, was the reason Martin was DFA’d. Lindor and Martin had to be separated after the first inning Thursday after some sloppy play by Martin in center field.

The back story to this move is twofold:

*Rookie Oscar Mercado will replace Martin as the regular center fielder.

*Slugger Bobby Bradley could be wearing an Indians uniform as soon as Sunday. Bradley is hitting .292 (75-for-257) with 17 doubles, 24 homers and 55 RBI at Class AAA Columbus. He’s posted a .997 OPS.

“Unfortunately, Leonys has just had a really difficult time getting going offensively,” said Antonetti. “We feel there are guys who are capable and have earned some of those at-bats. That kind of led to this decision.”

Martin’s defense seemed to slip as well.

“I think Martin played a fine center field,” said Antonetti. “It may not have been to the caliber that he’s played in the past, but overall on balance that wasn’t the issue. It was more on the offensive side.”

The Indians were desperate for a center fielder last July 31 when they acquired Martin from Detroit. He played six games and then was struck with a life-threatening bacterial infection that cost him the rest of the season. Martin, during his illness, lost 40 pounds.

In November the doctors at Cleveland Clinic cleared him to resume baseball activities. He went through spring training without a hitch, but offensively never recovered his swing.

Antonetti said Mercardo’s play in center field was a “big part of the equation” to DFA Martin.

“I think his continued development and emergence as a really productive major league player for us helped nudge that decision,” said Antonetti. “But it’s also a factor of the way some of the other guys have performed. We feel some of the guys on our roster have earned more at-bats.”

Martin hit .199 (47-for-236) with seven doubles, nine homers and 19 RBI. He appeared in 65 of the Tribe’s 75 games and had the fourth most at-bats on the team. On June 15, Martin made a straight steal of home against the Tigers in a 4-2 win. It was the first straight steal of home by an Indians player since Grady Sizemore did it against Toronto on Aug. 26, 2005.

Mercado is hitting .303 (36-for-119) with four homers and 13 RBI in 31 games since making his big-league debut on May 14.

Antonetti was asked if he has been approached by fans at the grocery store and asked when Bradley was going to get promoted.

“It depends who is at the grocery store with me,” said Antonetti. “But yes, I’ve been asked a lot about Bobby Bradley.”

As for when Bradley may arrive, Antonetti said, “It’s exciting to think about Bobby’s future and at some point we expect that he’ll be here to help us. Hopefully they’ll see him shopping in the vegetable aisle.”

Bradley came to spring training weighing over 250 pounds in February. The spring before he weighed 225, after losing 30 pounds over the winter. Bradley said he felt weak during the 2018 season after losing the weight. So he put it back on and them some.

As for whether the Martin move put Bradley’s arrival from Columbus on the front burner, Antonetti said, "We need to get through today first. Then we’ll figure out what the best thing for our roster is over the next few days. But I expect we’ll have other moves.

“We won’t continue to carry this many pitchers. As much as Tito likes relievers, at some point we need to rebalance the lineup.”

Bradley is expected to join the Indians in time for Sunday’s game against the Tigers. He was not in the Clippers’ lineup on Saturday night.

The Indians are currently carrying 14 pitchers.

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