The Cleveland Indians Continue to Shop the Bargain Bin
/The Cleveland Indians like to sell the past. The front-office specializes in signing players just coming down from their prime in the hopes that they have one last gasp of life before entering a full decline. The Mark Shapiro Office, which is now entering its third iteration and, in fact, without Shapiro himself, tries to sell the value-signing harder than any other franchise. Sometimes we find gold in the bargain bin in the likes of Paul Byrd, Scott Kazmir, Ryan Raburn and Kevin Millwood. Other times we get Trot Nixon, Juan Gonzalez and Johnny Damon (but he almost got to 3,000 hits with the team!).
Michael Bourn, Mark Reynolds, Drew Stubbs, Brandon Moss and now Mike Napoli all arrived in Cleveland billed as good players trying to bounce back from a down year. What was always sold as a slump was, in fact, a regression. The only free agent to come to Cleveland in the last ten years is following a great year is, believe it or not, Nick Swisher. His 3.8 WAR with the New York Yankees in 2012 was his best since 2007, yet quite in line with his career numbers.
Napoli's $7 million dollar deal is disheartening. Finally rid (mostly) of the large contracts of the aging Swisher and Bourn, most fans were expecting some kind of investment in the free agent market. Napoli, like many former Indians signings, is a name people will recognize. But he is far removed from the player people remember.
A low average, swing for the fences bat with average defensive skills at first base will not put the Indians over the hump. In fact, they had that player last year and traded him away. His name was Brandon Moss.
Moss is two years younger than Napoli and has one more year of arbitration left. Meaning he would still be under Cleveland's control (most likely at a cheaper price than Napoli) had they not traded him away at the deadline in 2015. In 2015, Moss drove in 58 RBIs with a .711 OPS while Napoli drove in 50 RBIs with a .734 OPS. They are essentially the same player at this point in their respective careers.
More concerning than anything, is that Francisco Lindor is the only quality position player promoted from the Tribe's farm system in recent memory. In the meantime, we still have the semi-promising core of Jason Kipnis, Michael Brantley, Carlos Santana, Yan Gomes and occasionally Lonnie Chisenhall looking like an incomplete unit. The front-office has tried to supplement that core with aging veterans, but they fail to develop any worthwhile talent in-house to complete the roster.
The MLB offseason is still in session and is currently in a log-jam. As we have seen in recent years, all teams have put a higher premium on their draft picks and have become increasingly unwilling to sacrifice these first and second round picks in exchange for signing high end free agents. In 2013, the Tribe snagged Bourn late in the free agency period for cheaper (hard to believe he was valued for more at the time) because so many suitors were unwilling to give up their pick. I am foolishly holding out that the Indians are laying low for a similar reason this year.
Big bats are still on the market, led by Chris Davis and Yoenis Cespedes, who are absolutely out of Cleveland's price range. But there are also guys like Justin Upton, Dexter Fowler, Howie Kendrick and Pedro Alvarez. These are players that can actually change the trajectory of the roster. Gerardo Parra, only 28 years old and coming off two good seasons, just signed a three year, $27 million deal with the Colorado Rockies. I don't understand why the Indians are scared to make that move, Parra's deal is not much more of an investment than Napoli's contract.
Until the Indians make a major free agent move, or unload some of their pitching for a legitimate bat, this will continue to be the same team we've seen since 2012. This is a .500 team with the occasional chance for the stars to align, resulting in a wild card berth. But much like the bargain bin free agents they sign, that chance is hard to predict.