Guardians Make A Weird Deal

The Cleveland Guardians had an inordinate number of versatile players on the roster and thinned that herd by one over the weekend when they traded Tyler Freeman to Colorado for Nolan Jones.

If you are a regular reader of this site, you know we have advocated for Freeman many times because of his minor league pedigree. However, it hasn’t translated to success in the majors. In 560 big league at bats, he batted just .223 with a 632 OPS.

Jones was with the Guardians in 2022 and was Cleveland’s second round draft pick in 2016. When he was called up in July of ’22, he was impressive, batting .286 with an 857 OPS in 18 games. He was patient, drawing eight walks to go with 17 strikeouts and had six extra base hits.

In August, it was a different story. Jones went 5 for 30 with 14 punchouts and didn’t draw a walk. He was traded to the Rockies for Juan Brito, who had a shot at the second base job this spring training.

Apparently, this convinced the Guardians’ front office he wasn’t capable of holding down a starting job.

Jones had an excellent season in 2023 for the Rockies, hitting 20 homers and stealing 20 bases with a 931 OPS. He did strikeout a lot, almost at a 30% rate and had a .389 on base percentage. But his home and road splits, always a factor for a hitter in Colorado, were pretty much the same.

Last year, he battled knee and back injuries, and his numbers fell off greatly with just a 641 OPS and 91 whiffs in 297 plate appearances.

So, the question is, which player are the Guardians getting? If spring training is any indication (and it usually isn’t), it’s the latter. Jones is 11 for 47 with no homers and 14 strikeouts in exhibition play to date.

But the trade also makes us wonder what the Guardians’ philosophy is in terms of hitting. For many years, they looked for players who made contact figuring they could teach them how to drive the ball. The biggest success stories in this regard are Francisco Lindor and Jose Ramirez.

However, they appear to be embracing two players in Jones and Gabriel Arias who have power, but also a lot of swing and miss in their games. We can add Jhonkensy Noel in that group as well.

We had someone comment to you that a platoon of Jones and Noel in rightfield could result in over 200 strikeouts. And for those who will say we are anti-strikeout, we say we can live with them if there are walks and production to go with it.

Jim Thome struck out a lot, the second most all-time, but he hit over 600 homers and had a career .402 on base percentage. We know he’s a Hall of Famer and that his number are extreme. Travis Hafner was another hitter who fanned a bunch but was a very productive hitter.

Another thing that troubles us about Jones is the back issues. He’s only 27-years-old and a back problem at that age is a bit of a red flag.

It is also interesting that the Guardians are looking for a power bat, particularly from the left side. It seems to us they had one and traded Josh Naylor because they didn’t want to pay him this season.

Jones does have a cannon for an arm, so the defense in probably better with him in that spot.

Hopefully, Nolan Jones returns to his 2023 form, a solid power and speed combination. If the ’24 version is the true Jones, then they are still waiting for a decent option in RF.

Tribe Needs To Walk, And Walks Are Good.

It goes without saying that the Cleveland Indians are struggling offensively. We’ve discussed it before, but currently the Tribe is averaging less than four runs per game, 12th in the American League.

They are second last in batting average (.209), but weirdly lead the league in home runs. They have the largest percentage of their runs scored coming from homers, which might seem like a positive statistics, but really is a negative one.

They don’t score much unless someone hits a home run.

They do rank 5th in the AL in walks, and have dropped in recent days to a tie for third in striking out the least amount of times.

We are a big believer in the strikeout/walk ratio in determining the ability of a hitter.

While there are exceptions, hitters that have high strikeout totals and don’t walk a lot aren’t destined to have long careers in the big leagues. It’s fine if you have high whiff and walk rates. In Cleveland, think about players like Jim Thome and Travis Hafner.

It’s one reason we were concerned about Amed Rosario, who last season had a 39/4 ratio.

What worries us is that if a batter doesn’t know the difference between a strike and a ball, pitchers figure that out pretty quickly, and realize they don’t have to throw the batter a pitch in the zone to get them out.

It’s also why we are anxious to see how young hitters like Tyler Freeman and Owen Miller do when minor league baseball starts in May. So far in their professional career, they make opposing pitchers throw strikes to get them out for the most part.

So far, the Cleveland hitters with the worst ratio in this regard are Austin Hedges (7 K’s/1 BB), Franmil Reyes (18/3), Andres Gimenez (10/2), and Josh Naylor (12/4).

Can you imagine how lethal Reyes would be at the plate if he could lay off pitches out of the strike zone? We understand some of that comes with experience, because hitters are anxious to come up with the big hit, rather than keep the line going and pass on the opportunity to the next batter.

On the other hand, here are the hitters who have good ratios: Jose Ramirez (8/7), Cesar Hernandez (13/10), Jordan Luplow (10/7), and Roberto Perez (14/9). This is one of the reasons, despite a .167 batting average thus far, we think putting Hernandez in the leadoff spot would be a good move.

It’s also why we are encouraged about Luplow, and why we think he should start seeing more at bats vs. right-handed pitching. He leads the team home runs and RBIs, despite having just 37 plate appearances, and is 3 for 6 with two dingers against righties. The outfield has not provided a lot of offense since the beginning of the 2020 season, so why not give Luplow more chances based on this success.

So far, the Indians have been dismal hitting with runners in scoring position, which is the biggest reason they have become so dependent on the home run to score. The more opportunities these selective hitters get, we should see better results, as long as they maintain patience.

Think to Tuesday night, when Luplow fanned with the bases loaded in the fifth despite being ahead in the count, 3-1. He swung at two pitches above the zone. That inning is different if he just takes the walk, which he has done the season for the most part.

On the other hand, keep an eye on players like Reyes, Gimenez, Naylor, and to a lesser extent, Amed Rosario, and see how many times they get themselves out.

We aren’t saying it’s easy to hit big league pitching, but it helps if you limit yourself to swinging at good pitches.

The encouraging thing about Tuesday’s contest was the Indians drew nine walks. They need the base on balls to help their offense.

2005 Tribe: A Missed Opportunity

In the wild card era of Major League Baseball, the Cleveland Indians have certainly had a great deal of success.

They’ve won three American League pennants (’95, ’97, and 2016). They advanced to the AL Championship Series twice more, losing in 1998 and 2007.

And they’ve went to the post-season more than any other American League team, save for the big market behemoths New York and Boston.

Of the team’s that didn’t make the post-season, the one team that kind of gets overlooked is the 2005 edition of the Indians, managed by Eric Wedge.

The Tribe finished the ’04 campaign at 80-82, and their biggest move of the off-season going into ’05 was probably inking Kevin Millwood as a free agent, although the veteran right-hander was coming off an injury plagued season with the Phillies, throwing only 145 innings.

GM Mark Shapiro also traded OF Matt Lawton to Pittsburgh to fortify the bullpen, getting LHP Arthur Rhodes.

It was the fourth year of a rebuild that started following the 2001 season, when Shapiro dealt Roberto Alomar to New York. By this time, the last remnants of the great 90’s teams were gone via free agency, Jim Thome to Philadelphia following 2002, and Omar Vizquel over the winter.

So, there weren’t big expectations on the Tribe coming into the 2005 season.

And that was confirmed early in the year, and the Indians closed April at 9-14, while the Chicago White Sox started red hot, opening at 17-7.

On May 8th, Cleveland was sitting at 12-18, 11-1/2 games behind the front running White Sox, and the defending champion Central Division champions in Minnesota were also playing well at 19-11.

Wedge’s squad started to play better at this point, going 35-23 to the All Star break, to sit at 47-41, still 11 games behind Chicago, who went through the first half on a torrid pace (57-29), but the Indians were clearly in the wild card race, just two games behind Minnesota.

At the point, Baltimore, Texas, New York, and the young Wahoos, who only had two players over 30 getting substantial playing time (Aaron Boone and Casey Blake), were very much in the race.

Cleveland was paced by their pitching, they wound up leading the AL in ERA, mostly a five man rotation that made all but four starts all season.

Millwood led the league in ERA at 2.86, but he, Jake Westbrook (15-15, 4.49 ERA), C.C. Sabathia (15-10, 4.03), Cliff Lee (18-5, 3.79), and Scott Elarton (11-9, 4.61) took the mound every fifth day.

The bullpen was strong too, led by closer Bob Wickman (45 saves) and set up men Bob Howry (2.47 ERA), Rafael Betancourt (2.79 ERA), David Riske (3.10 ERA).

The offense ranked 4th in runs scored, with big years from Travis Hafner (.305, 33 HR, 108 RBI, 1003 OPS), Jhonny Peralta (.292, 24, 78 885 OPS), Victor Martinez (.305, 20, 80, 853 OPS), and Grady Sizemore (.289, 22, 81, 832 OPS).

All of those guys were under 28, and Peralta was 23, while Sizemore was 22.

Cleveland struggled out of the break and finished July at 55-51, 14.5 behind the Pale Hose, and now four behind Oakland, who got hot and seized the wild card lead.

Then, it was the Tribe’s turn to get hot, going 19-8 in August, while the Sox came back to the pack. The lead was seven games heading into September, and the wild card deficit was down to 1.5 behind the Yankees, who were also scolding hot.

The Indians started September 18-4, and after games on 9/24, the Tribe was just a game and a half behind Chicago, and held a game and a half lead in the wild card standings. They had the second best record in the AL at 92-63.

Unfortunately, they would win just one more game the rest of the year.

On the 25th, with the score tied in the bottom of the ninth, and Kansas City had a runner on second with one out, when Paul Phillips hit a fly ball that Grady Sizemore lost in the sun, and the Royals won 5-4.

Chicago and Boston won, so Cleveland trailed Chicago by 2.5 and led the wild card by just a half game, with a three game set at home vs. lowly Tampa coming up.

The Tribe dropped the opener to Scott Kazmir, who was staked to an early 5-0 lead, before the Indians clawed back at trailed 5-4 in the bottom of the ninth with runners on 1st and 3rd with just one out. Ronnie Belliard hit into a double play.

Cleveland was shutout the next night by Seth McClung, 1-0, wasting a great pitching performance by Lee, before Sabathia and Betancourt blanked the Rays, 6-0.

Heading into the final weekend at home vs. Chicago, the Tribe was 3 behind the Sox, and tied with Boston for the wild card.

The Indians mustered just 6 runs against the Sox in the three games, losing by counts of 3-2 (in 13 innings), 4-3, and 3-1. The Tribe tied the first game in the bottom of the ninth, but another double play ball, this one off the bat of Boone, killed the rally.

Cleveland wound up missing the wild card by two games. The White Sox won the pennant and ultimately the World Series.

Another frustrating chapter of baseball in our city.

The Bobby Bradley Question.

With the Cleveland Indians’ offensive woes, there has been a lot of speculation among impatient fans about bringing up certain players from the farm, most notably, slugging first baseman Bobby Bradley.

We aren’t sure that will help the Tribe, though.

First, if you read this blog enough or follow on Twitter, you know our least favorite kind of hitter, the high strikeout, low walk, low batting average guys. The pre-2019 Joey Gallo would be the poster boy for that kind of offensive player.

That said, we aren’t anti-strikeout either. Big boppers like Hall of Famer Jim Thome, and the most recent vintage left-handed hitting slugger, Travis Hafner are great offensive players.

They strikeout a lot and walk a ton, leading to both great on base percentages and slugging percentages.

Bradley is not that. This year, he has fanned 67 times at Columbus, while walking just 18 times. To us, this doesn’t show a great knowledge of the strike zone. It also shows that he is a mistake hitter.

And in the big leagues, pitchers don’t make as many mistakes.

This isn’t unusual for Bradley. A year ago, he struck out 148 times and walked just 56.

He broke out as a prospect in 2016 at Lynchburg, when he hit 29 homers and knocked in 102 runs, hitting .235. He fanned 170 times, walking 75 times.

The following year, his strikeouts went down to 122, which is good, but he still only hit .251.

His OPS in both years hovered around 800, which is good at the big league level, but this was A ball and AA ball.

This year has been his best year yet. Although Columbus is a big time hitter’s park, Bradley has a 908 OPS on the road and has belted 7 of his 16 homers away from the Clippers’ home yard.

All in all, Bradley’s career minor league numbers show a .253 batting average and an 843 OPS.

For sake of comparison, Thome had a .317 batting average and a 920 OPS in the minors. Hafner was a .298 hitter in the minors with a 918 OPS.

Another comparison would be a player currently on the Indians’ big league roster. This player had a minor league batting average of .276 and an OPS of 775.

Fans are complaining that Jake Bauers isn’t hitting in the majors and his numbers aren’t all that different.

We are firm believers in the “can’t be worse” theory in sports, and we get the argument that Bradley might be better than what Terry Francona writes in the lineup on a daily basis.

We just don’t think Bradley should be viewed as a cure all for Cleveland’s offensive problems.

The other issue is defensively. Bradley is clearly a 1B/DH. He’s never played anywhere else, and he probably can’t.

If you bring Bradley up, where does he play? If he replaces Bauers, you lose some defensive flexibility, and that was a problem when Hanley Ramirez was here.

That’s not a huge deal, but it is a factor.

We are sure the Indians want Bradley to show more control of the strike zone that he has shown, and we are also positive they have told him that.

When he does, the front office will want to take a look at him.

And the first time he comes up in a clutch situation and flails at a pitch out of the strike zone, fans will want to send him back.

It’s a conundrum to be sure. But, right now, we question whether or not Bobby Bradley will ever be a big time hitter at the big league level.

Tribe Should Get Deal Done with Masty

No one knows how to throw a wet blanket on growing enthusiasm like the Cleveland Indians.

After a September that woke up the interest in the team enough that the wild card game was attended by a sellout, boisterous throng, the front office’s biggest splash this off-season was signing OF David Murphy, who hit .220 for Texas last season.

And now, with the Tribe compiling the sport’s best record in exhibition play and fans looking forward to Opening Day next week, comes the word that talks on a long-term contract with starting pitcher Justin Masterson have broken off.

There are pros and cons on Masterson, the biggest con being that he has spent four years in Cleveland as a starter, and has had two solid seasons (12-10, 3.21 ERA in ’11, and 14-10, 3.45 ERA in ’13) out of those four. The other seasons were 6-13, 4.70 ERA in ’10 and 11-15, 4.93 ERA in 2012.

He’s been inconsistent, although when he has had pitching coaches who stress pounding the strike zone (Tim Belcher in 2011 and Mickey Calloway in 2013), he has been successful.

The other thing you can’t take away from the big right-hander, who just turned 29 years of age, is that he’s an innings eater, throwing an average of 199 innings per season in those four years.

Masterson was willing to sign a shorter term deal with the Indians, which would be club-friendly, but at a fair market value. That way the Tribe would be protected from a long-term commitment.

Our premise is there is nothing bad about a one-year deal because the club is out of it after one season. For example, did the Brett Myers signing really have an adverse effect on the Cleveland Indians? Of course not.

So, a three-year deal even at the reported $17 million per year, isn’t the crippling deal that the Travis Hafner contract became. Hafner’s five-year contract was a bust because of injuries over that span.

A three-year deal is reasonable and manageable, especially for someone with the durability of Masterson.

The fact of the matter is this is the baseball climate the Indians are playing in, and the amount of money the guy who has started each of the last three Opening Days for Cleveland is the market value, whether the front office likes it or not.

Homer Bailey received a six-year contract with Cincinnati over the winter at a similar dollar per year figure, and Masterson’s numbers are comparable if not better.

And most baseball people consider the best starting pitchers on the market after the 2014 season are James Shields, Max Scherzer, Jorge De La Rosa, Jon Lester, and…Masterson.

So, he’s going to get a big deal from someone after this season.

The Indians are still living in the moral high ground concerning free agency, apparently one of the last teams to do that.

They will tell you that Masterson hasn’t proven he can put two solid seasons back to back, and that’s why they can’t make that kind of financial commitment. However, the days of teams paying for past performance are in the past.

Today, teams have to pay based on what’s going to happen over the next three years.

The point is this is the market value for solid starting pitchers. The really good ones (Kershaw, Verlander, etc.) get $22 million per season.

If the Dolan ownership can’t pay the market value for players, then their really isn’t a bright future for Indians’ fans as long as the current ownership is in place.

To have that pointed out once again right before the start of the season is another kick in the teeth for Indians’ fans. And another reminder that an ownership that is unable to pay market value for players should think about selling the team.

Tribe Needs to Look at Ticket Prices

There is no question that the Cleveland Indians alienated their fans for the past several seasons.

After the 2007 season in which they missed the World Series by just one game, they acted like someone was going to tell them it was their turn to win someday, so they could be inactive.

They traded two Cy Young Award winners in C.C. Sabathia and Cliff Lee, and traded a professional hitter who said he wanted to stay here in Victor Martinez. All three were gone by the time the 2009 season ended.

Later, after a 2011 season is which they were surprisingly in contention until Labor Day, when the Detroit Tigers finally got hot and ran away, they were inert in the off-season following, setting up a 2012 campaign where they were depending on players like Shelley Duncan, Casey Kotchman, and Derek Lowe.

To be fair, they did deal two top pitching prospects for Ubaldo Jimenez at the deadline in ’11, but that move hasn’t worked out the way GM Chris Antonetti wanted. The fact it hasn’t worked out for Colorado is of little consolation.

However, last winter, the ownership seemed to get the message that the fan base was unhappy with the way things were being run. After Travis Hafner’s large deal finally ended, the front office went out and signed Nick Swisher and Michael Bourn to multi-year contracts.

Unfortunately, the people who buy tickets seem to be holding a grudge because the Tribe ranks last in the American League in attendance.

While many fans obviously have a wait and see attitude regarding this team, it is a better team and while they struggled mightily at the beginning of June, they have ripped off eight wins in the last 12 games and currently sit just four games behind the mighty Tigers in the AL Central.

And they are very good at home.

Whether or not the Indians can make the playoffs isn’t the issue because the American League is very strong. Heck, all five teams in the AL East are above the .500 mark.

We said at the beginning of the season that 13 of the 15 teams in the AL had legitimate chances to get to the post-season, and yes, the Tribe was one of those teams.

So where are the fans?

This is a city with blind loyalty to the Browns, a team with two winning seasons since 1999. In that same time period, the Indians have had five such seasons, making the playoffs three times.

We checked the prices for the next home series for the Tribe when they come home from this trip to Baltimore, Chicago, and Kansas City. They take on the Tigers on July 5^th, 6^th, and 7^th.

Seats in the upper deck and the bleachers are being sold for $23.60 apiece for the Friday night game. Meaning it costs almost $100.00 for a family of four to attend.

In order to sit behind home plate, it will cost you $80.00 for a single seat.

If the Indians want families to go to the games, they are making it tough, particularly when the fortunes of the team have soured a lot of baseball fans in Cleveland.

The Tribe did the right thing in lowering the cost of concessions in the off-season, but it doesn’t do much good if they don’t get people to make the trip to Progressive Field.

Perhaps it is time to look at the ticket prices as well. Lower them so people will want to see what the new Indians are all about.

The prices might be lower than many franchises, but apparently they are still too high for the fan base.

Whatever the reason, the front office needs to look at why fans aren’t clicking the turnstiles.

Critics Aside, the Browns Have Improved

The first day of free agency in the NFL has come and gone and the Cleveland Browns made a big splash with three signings.

OLB Paul Kruger, formerly of the Baltimore Ravens, was the first choice of the brown and orange. A pass rushing linebacker who had seven sacks a year ago, Kruger had an impressive post-season with the Ravens last season.

The Browns also signed DE Desmond Bryant, a huge man, and another OLB Quentin Groves, who played for defensive coordinator Ray Horton last season with the Cardinals.

GM Mike Lombardi and president Joe Banner felt the defense needed some help for 2013, with input from Horton, and the Browns went out and signed two likely starters at linebacker, a weak position for Cleveland in 2012, and the type of defensive end you need in the 3-4 defense.

Yet, there are still people upset that the Browns did not address the quarterback position as of yet, and haven’t signed a cornerback to go with Joe Haden either.

It just shows that there are some people who like to complain about everything.

In the NFL, where there are no guaranteed contracts, if you have the room under the salary cap, there isn’t a big penalty if the player doesn’t work out. And as everyone is very aware the Browns have a ton of money available under the cap.

That means that Lombardi and Banner basically picked up three players, all of whom are younger and appear to be talented, for nothing more than cash. They didn’t have to give up any draft picks or players. They just spent money.

How can anyone be upset with that?

This isn’t like baseball or basketball, where a bad contract can hamper an organization for many years, like the Indians with Travis Hafner’s deal. The organization had plenty of money to spend, and they did so.

They filled needs with the two linebackers and getting Bryant replaces Frostee Rucker, who was cut by the new regime since the end of the season.

And most football people felt the Browns had more needs on the defense. They still could use another cornerback and another safety, and they still have the college draft to address those positions.

An added bonus to signing Kruger is that he leaves the Ravens, a divisional foe. Improving your team while hurting a divisional rival is always a win-win.

None of these players are guys who are near the end of their careers either.

Kruger and Bryant are just 27 years old, and Groves is only 28. They have plenty of years left in the NFL lives and fit in perfectly with the rest of the young Browns. They will be able to grow with the young core of veterans with four years or less of experience. Players such as Alex Mack, Joe Haden, Taylor, Greg Little and Jabaal Sheard.

In fact, right now Cleveland has only three players with 10 or more years in the NFL on the roster: Sheldon Brown, Juqua Parker, and Phil Dawson. And it is doubtful that any of them will be back this season, although it would be great if Dawson is still the team’s kicker.

Also, with the expected departures via free agency of TE Benjamin Watson, TE Alex Smith, S Ray Ventrone, and the expected release of P Reggie Hodges, the Browns will not have a player over 30 years old on the roster.

That’s a young football team.

There is no question the Browns are a better team today than they were on Monday. That’s progress, no matter how people want to say differently.

The New Tribe Started with Tito

As last season started for the Cleveland Indians, they were a stagnant organization.

The ownership didn’t spend any money and what may be worse, they seemed immune to the criticism they were getting on an almost daily basis from the Tribe’s fan base. Season tickets were dropping like a rock. Apathy was starting to set in.

The baseball operation people were inert as well. They settled for free agents than no one else wanted, players like Casey Kotchman and Johnny Damon, and tried an experiment with virtually an all left-handed hitting batting order.

They seemed to be grasping at straws, trying wild theories in an effort to put together a winning season.

The manager was a nice man, but had a very subdued personality, and his team played like it. A member of the local media here said the Indians never looked like they were having any fun playing the game.

You couldn’t argue that point.

A year later, and it seems like a whole new organization, and it looks like it started with the hiring of Terry Francona as the new manager.

For whatever reason, be it the friendship that started with Indians’ president Mark Shapiro when he was a consultant with the Tribe after losing his managerial gig in Philadelphia, and perhaps coupled with Cleveland being the place his father, the “real Tito” as the skipper calls him, experienced his most success as a player, but the two-time World Series winner felt drawn to the job vacated by Acta.

Whether it was discussed during the interview process or not, the Dolan family decided to open up the purse strings shortly after the new manager was in place.

The front office didn’t go crazy in spending, but the combination of Travis Hafner’s money coming off the books, and the cash which came available through the sale of SportsTime Ohio, but the Indians signed three established solid, good major league players in Nick Swisher, Michael Bourn, and Brett Myers.

The respect players around the league have for Francona was evident in Nick Swisher’s decision to sign a four-year deal here. It would have been a shock if the former Yankee had signed with the Tribe if the former Boston manager wasn’t here.

Swisher was ebullient in his praise for Francona at his introductory press conference, and his admiration for him has continued all during spring training. Myers played for Brad Mills, the new Tribe third base coach in Houston, and this relationship (along with cash) surely helped the right-hander sign in Cleveland.

Suddenly, there is a buzz in this city about the Indians. Opening Day tickets sold out in six minutes. Granted, they are playing New York, but people are excited about this baseball team. You hear fans talking about the battle for the spots in the starting rotation, and who is doing well during exhibition play.

After last season’s collapse after August 1st, this franchise seemed to be in a coma, with many long time supporters looking to pull the plug. Then, Terry Francona was hired as the new skipper and almost immediate jump started fan interest in this baseball team.

To be sure, Francona never asked to be the savior of this baseball team. However, there is no question he just may be the Pied Piper who leads fans back to Progressive Field.

The elder Francona, “the real Tito” has to be proud of the mark his son is making in Cleveland.

Tribe Spending Spree? Not Really

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.

Upton Signing Shows Why Tribe Not Active in Free Agency

The Cleveland Indians have a reputation of being a tad frugal in terms of payroll.

The Tribe was in the lower third of all major league teams in terms of spending on the ballclub, which infuriates its fan base to no end. When they do spend money, they usually don’t spend wisely.

Take, for example, the $5 million given to Grady Sizemore, and another reported $3 million to Casey Kotchman, named in an article on Baseball Prospectus at the least valuable player in baseball.

Going back a few years, the front office made a colossal mistake when faced with the specter of having three front line players, C.C. Sabathia, Travis Hafner, and Jake Westbrook coming up on free agency, they decided to sign the lesser two players and traded Sabathia away.

We still believe if they would have offered the current Yankees’ ace less than what they paid the other two combined per year (an estimated $22 million), perhaps C.C. would still be wearing a Cleveland uniform.

You see, the best investment in baseball is signing your star young players to big cash, and staying away from older star free agents, and other free agents in general.

Do you think the Yankees would love to get rid of Alex Rodriguez’ bloated contract now, based on his production over the past couple of years? The bet here is that the Angels will regret the Albert Pujols deal as he heads into his late 30’s.

Yesterday, the Braves decided to give OF B. J. Upton $15 million per year for five years. Atlanta may regret this one before the last two years on the contract.

Why? Because Upton is nothing more than an average player. If an 800 OPS makes you a very good offensive player, then Upton certainly is lacking. He’s reached that figure just once in his career, and that was in 2007. His lifetime mark of 758 is just slightly higher than the American League average in 2012 (731).

If the going rate for a player like Upton is $15 mil a year, then by all means the Indians should wait for the bargains in free agency if they participate at all. If Upton is worth that amount, then what is Nick Swisher worth?

Not that the latter is a great player, but he has a OPS of 828. He’s a much more productive hitter than B.J. Upton.

It is ridiculous what the going rate is for average players on the open market. As they say, it only takes one crazy team.

That’s why the ability to draft well and develop your own talent is so important. It gives you the chance to have good talent at an affordable price.

Shin-Soo Choo is a better player than Upton, and Michael Brantley’s OPS is roughly the same (750). Both players combined will make far less than the new Braves’ outfielder.

So, do the Indians have a chance to get better right away?

Sure.

They can make trades for players who have abilities from teams trying to shed some payroll and have maybe a year or two left on their contracts. That strategy buys you time until some young players develop.

You can also wait out the market a little bit and get good players for less money than Upton received. You just have to sign the right players.

For example, both Josh Willingham and Cody Ross were signed for relatively little money, but both had very productive seasons.

That’s the right way to play the free agency game.

Signing a player like Upton would hamstring the Indians for several years, just like Hafner’s hefty deal.

That’s the way the money game in baseball is played today.