A couple of weeks ago, we talked about what free agents we wanted the Cleveland Indians to pursue this off-season. We felt Nick Markakis and D.J. LeMahieu were two guys who could be signed at reasonable deals and could help the Tribe.
Now, both are signed, Markakis to a very club friendly $6 million, one year deal, and the Indians still have a gaping hole in the outfield. Their options are getting slimmer by the week.
This has been rehashed before, so why not one more time. If the season began today, the likely outfield alignment would be Leonys Martin and Greg Allen in center, Tyler Naquin in left, and Jordan Luplow in right.
Doesn’t exactly sound like a threat to contend for the World Series winner, does it?
To be fair, we like Luplow’s potential. He had 36 extra base hits and 39 walks in 88 games at AAA last season (829 OPS), and slugged .535 at AA the year before that. He could be an interesting guy to watch in Arizona.
And we actually think there could be potential in the Martin/Allen platoon. Martin had close to an 800 OPS (799) against right-handed pitching a year ago.
There has been talk to getting a third baseman, which would move Jose Ramirez to 2B, and potentially move Jason Kipnis to left, but neither he nor Naquin would be another solid, proven bat this lineup badly needs.
Once again, right now, the Indians have three of those: Francisco Lindor, Jose Ramirez, and Carlos Santana. Our opinion is you need six or seven to have an offense good enough to get you to October.
So, who is left on the open market, which is what the Indians’ front office will have to go to unless they decide to deal one of their starting pitchers.
Carlos Gonzalez has the highest OPS among attainable free agent hitters (Bryce Harper not included), but he hasn’t hit away from Coors Field since 2016.
Curtis Granderson is 38 years old and is at best a platoon player at this point in his career.
A. J. Pollock would be a great fit for Cleveland, but at 31 years old, he’s looking for a multi-year deal, and his price is probably out of the Tribe’s range, especially based on how they have been cutting the payroll this winter.
And it’s been reported he is signing with the Dodgers.
Adam Jones, who will play at 34 years old this upcoming season, has been linked to the Indians since last summer. Jones is coming off his worst season since he became a regular, and may be a candidate for a rebound season. However, his low career walk rate doesn’t hold much hope for that.
You also have Mike Moustakas, who could be signed and move Kipnis to the outfield, or Marwin Gonzalez, a multi-positional player who is looking to cash in his last two seasons. He took a big dip in ’18 though, looking more like the player he was earlier in his career.
Hopefully, the Cleveland front office is looking at Jones and/or Moustakas. They need to lengthen their lineup badly, and that duo could do that and at a seemingly reasonable price.
We would like Luplow and say, Jake Bauers, to make the leap and become solid everyday players. But you can’t depend on that when your goals are beyond winning the division, which with the top line talent the Indians have, should be the goal.
The fan base is becoming impatient, and that doesn’t help sell tickets.
MW
Cleveland Sports Perspective 