One of the great myth’s surrounding the Cleveland Indians is that they conducted a huge spending spree this off-season.
According the Baseball Reference.com, the Indians spent $66.5 million on salaries last season, and right now are projected to have a payroll of $73.8 million in 2013.
That figure would still be the lowest in the AL Central Division, and only Tampa Bay, Oakland, and Houston would have lower payrolls this season.
To be fair, that figure includes only 14 players, but rest of the 40 man roster won’t cost the team a lot of moolah because most of those guys will be paid the major league minimum or a split contract which pays them less in they aren’t in the major leagues.
The only player who remains unsigned that will make more than $2 million per year is probably INF Mike Aviles.
That isn’t to say you have to spend cash to win, just look at the A’s, who won the AL Western Division and only paid $50 million in player salaries, and the Rays won more than 90 games last year with a comparable figure.
GM Chris Antonetti might be able to pull off a contending team in 2013, but it won’t be because the Dolan family opened up the purse strings. He is not spending a heck of a lot more than he did on a squad that won 68 games a year ago.
Yes, the team did spend big dollars on free agent OF Nick Swisher, but it isn’t much more than they were paying Travis Hafner the past few years. The difference is that Swisher will likely be in the lineup more often.
The Indians also signed two other free agents, 1B Mark Reynolds and P Brett Myers, but they shed the contracts of Shin-Soo Choo (traded to Cincinnati) and Roberto Hernandez (released).
Antonetti has said there won’t be more free agent signings this winter because he has spent pretty much the cash allocated to him by ownership for player salaries.
This means there wasn’t intent to spend a great deal more in 2013, but the money will be spent wisely, meaning to players who will be productive.
However, we have maintained that there is no reason the Indians should not have an $80 million payroll, meaning they should be able to spend another $5 million for another player, preferably a starting pitcher.
Because the Tribe needs to start spring training with Ubaldo Jimenez as the fifth starter.
Right now, Terry Francona goes into camp with two reliable starters, Justin Masterson and newcomer Brett Myers.
Zack McAllister showed promise last season, but he’s pitched in the big leagues for a half of a season. Trevor Bauer is one of the game’s prime prospects, but has made four major league starts. Carlos Carrasco is coming off of Tommy John surgery.
Corey Kluber and David Huff are, well, Corey Kluber and David Huff.
Which brings us to Jimenez. You can flip a coin on what kind of performance you will get out of him on a nightly basis.
And if you are interested in winning this season, and to be sure, Francona wants to, you can’t have a pitcher like that in the top three of your rotation.
Here’s hoping the ownership gives Antonetti a little bit more cash to get the payroll where it should be, so he can obtain another starter.
That would do a lot for fans that still look at this organization with a jaundiced eye.
KM
Cleveland Sports Perspective 