The Cleveland Indians made their first moves of baseball’s off-season and they should have surprised absolutely no one.
First, the Tribe inked DH Jason Giambi to a minor league contract and there is no doubt that if he is healthy next spring, he will be on the Opening Day roster on March 31st in his old stomping ground in Oakland.
The grizzled veteran hit just .183, but did hit 9 HR and knocked in 31 runs, many of them key.
He had perhaps the biggest hit down the stretch with his dramatic pinch hit two run homer off of Chicago’s Addison Reed to turn a 4-3 potential loss into a 5-4 victory.
Anyone who has read the book that Terry Francona did with Dan Shaughnessy about his years in Boston understands how much the skipper values veterans who provide leadership like Giambi.
The guess here is that as long as “Big G” can get around on a fastball, he will have a spot on a Francona led team.
GM Chris Antonetti also announced the Indians were cutting ties with closer Chris Perez. While the speculation will be it is because of his poor finish to the season and his off field problems, it really comes down to just dollars and cents.
If the Tribe was to keep Perez for 2014, they likely would have had to pay him in excess of $8 million, an amount way too exorbitant based on his productivity.
The shame of it is the Indians should have dealt Perez each of the last two seasons, because the signs he was losing effectiveness were there.
His strikeout to innings pitched ratio had declined, and at that time, Cleveland had a viable alternative in Vinnie Pestano, who was making a lot less than Perez, thus freeing up cash for other needs.
As it is, Antonetti and Francona have several in-house options to close out games, including Pestano if his arm bounces back, along with Cody Allen and Bryan Shaw.
Former Indians’ GM John Hart used to say that closers fall out of trees, and when you think about it, there aren’t a lot of teams who pay closers huge sums of money. This is mostly because they aren’t effective for long periods with Mariano Rivera being the exception.
The Indians completed the trio of moves by getting LHP Colt Hynes from San Diego. Hynes spent the second half of last year with the Padres, compiling a 9.00 ERA, which hardly sounds impressive.
However, he did hold left-handed hitters to 5 for 32 with six walks, making him a classic LOOGY (left-handed one out guy). He may be designated for assignment as the Indians make room on the 40 man roster before the winter meetings, but if he goes to spring training he has a chance to supplant Rich Hill in the bullpen.
The news today that Ubaldo Jimenez turned out his option for next year is no surprise either, and Cleveland will make him a qualifying offer by Monday to ensure draft pick compensation.
Jimenez will likely get a four or five-year contract offer from somewhere, and the Tribe is right in staying away from that length of deal based on the pitcher’s volatile career while here.
The hot stove season started as soon as the World Series ended for the Cleveland Indians. After a couple of days, things are going according to plan.
KM
Cleveland Sports Perspective 