It is almost a universal belief that the Cleveland Indians need to upgrade their offense this winter.
The Tribe ranked 11th in the American League in runs scored, and scored three runs or less in almost half (79) of the games they played in 2015.
They have only three everyday players with an OPS over 800: Michael Brantley, Jason Kipnis, and rookie of the year runner up Francisco Lindor.
As a contrast, the World Champion Royals had five such players, and a sixth, Ben Zobrist, joined them during the season.
We have written shortly after the season ended that the Indians should be looking to upgrade offensively at five different positions: 1B, 3B, CF, RF, and DH.
We are sure the supporters who are fans of Carlos Santana will say that we are crazy, but the switch-hitter will be 30 years old in 2016 and his numbers have declined each of the last two seasons.
The reality is Chris Antonetti, Mike Chernoff, and Terry Francona would be happy is at least two or three of these spots will be upgraded offensively.
While many fans like the job Lonnie Chisenhall did in RF after returning from the minor leagues (756 OPS, .288 batting average), over the entire season, his OPS was under 700.
That said, he is the player out of the five positions that we would consider as an everyday guy in 2016.
The real question though is how can the Indians accomplish this improvement?
We can all agree that the front office is not going to commit to a huge free agent deal to get a solid bat.
Therefore, we can rule out anyone on the high end of the free agent market.
Actually, we can rule out the entire free agent market because we wouldn’t pay between $7-$10 million on flawed players like Austin Jackson, David Freese, and the like.
So, it would appear to us that the only way to get the kind of bat the Tribe desperately needs is to trade one of their starting pitchers.
If the next Ted Williams fell into Cleveland’s lap for a minor league prospect, of course that would be the first option. However, that’s not likely to occur.
In order to get a quality hitter, a professional hitter, the organization is going to have to pony up.
It would be nice to continue to have four or five quality starting pitchers who are proven commodities, but you may still have that with the depth the Indians have accumulated over the past few years.
And if the front office is going to ink players like Jackson or Freese and tell you they’ve improved the hitting, they are lying to themselves.
One guy who may be affordable and could help, at least against right-handed pitchers is free agent John Jaso.
Jaso, 32, is a platoon bat however. He’s a lifetime .274 batter against right-handed pitching, with a 797 OPS.
He had a 839 OPS last season with Tampa Bay.
It would be fine to get some pieces like Jaso to help, but only if you can get someone who can hit in the middle of the order, especially with Brantley out of the lineup probably until the middle of May.
But you are going to have to give something significant in return.
The question is will the Indians’ front office have the stomach to make such a move
MW
Cleveland Sports Perspective 