Sometimes, life imitates art. Last week, flipping through the television on a Sunday, I came across the movie “Major League”, which is held near and dear by fans of the Cleveland Indians. The sad thing about seeing the movie again was the thought that we are seeing a sequel in real life this off-season.
The Tribe, notably the Dolan family with GM Mark Shapiro manning the controls, continues to make moves that baffle its fan base. The latest is the offer of a major league contract to free agent slugger/whiff machine Russell Branyan.
First, offering a big league deal to Russell the Muscle means that someone has to be removed from the 40-man roster if Branyan accepts the deal. It may be an inconsequential player in the long term, but it will be someone with more upside than the 34-year-old slugger.
Second, the Tribe is talking about Branyan providing depth at 1B, 3B, LF, RF, and DH. That’s highly unlikely.
The reason Branyan is still on the market is he has a bad back. That would make playing the hot corner very unlikely. He hasn’t played there since 2008 with Milwaukee, but even when he was young, he wasn’t known as a good glove man.
He hasn’t patrolled the outfield since 2007 with Philadelphia.
Most likely, Branyan would play 1B and DH when Travis Hafner takes a day off. However, the Indians claim Hafner’s shoulder is stronger and the plan of playing him a maximum of three days in a row is out the window. So how many at bats would the well traveled slugger get?
Yes, Branyan had a career year in 2009, hitting .251 with 31 HR and 78 RBI. The ribbie number isn’t impressive because of the strikeouts. However, after a great start, he batted .184 with a 701 OPS in July and August. He was having back problems at that point, but he is also prone to these types of slumps.
His previous career high in dingers was 24, done during the 2002 season. So what do you think the likelihood of him hitting 25-30 in 2010 is?
Look, because of the length of his career, you pretty much know what you a going to get out of Branyan. He’s going to hit around .230, smash 20 homers and knock in about 50 runs. Oh yeah, he’s also going to whiff. A lot.
Not exactly a great fit for a team that finished in the top five in striking out in the American League last season.
And this isn’t about Mark Shapiro doing Branyan a favor and giving him a place to show he is healthy. They are offering him a big league contract, not a minor league invite.
This whole off-season for the Indians has got to be a bad dream, right? Signing a collection of marginal players doesn’t really get the fans thinking about baseball.
It almost seems as if the management is trying to drive fans away. The best hope is Branyan turns down the Indians’ offer and goes somewhere else.
They have to be kidding us, right?
MW
Cleveland Sports Perspective 