The Cleveland Indians’ middle infielders put up some dreadful numbers in 2010. Indians second basemen were second-to-last in MLB with a .284 wOBA, and Indians shortstops couldn’t crack a .300 wOBA either.
Cleveland is awaiting hyped second base prospects Cord Phelps and Jason Kipnis, both of whom are close to the majors, but in the meantime, it appears Orlando Cabrera will be helping them out in the middle infield picture, as the Indians signed him today.
While Asdrubal Cabrera is a usable shortstop, he struggled both offensively and defensively in 2010, and Luis Valbuena and Jason Donald were even worse. Moving Asdrubal Cabrera to second could at least allow his glove to flourish, and one would figure Orlando Cabrera is an upgrade on the rest of the cast of 2010 middle infielders, which included Valbuena, Donald, Jayson Nix, and Mark “No Extra-Base Hits” Grudzielanek.
It should be noted that there’s a good reason Cabrera was still available on the market until now–he’s not an elite player anymore. The 36-year-old brings a good glove to the shortstop position, but like all of Cleveland’s other middle infielders, he lacks plate discipline, posting just a .303 OBP.
Cabrera does still have some punch against lefties; he hit .326/.374/.430 against them last year, as opposed to .240/.275/.326 against righties. One has to wonder if platooning the Cabreras (Asdrubal, a switch-hitter, hit .281/.335/.350 against RHPs and .264/.308/.339 against LHPs last year) would actually get the Indians above-average offensive production and average defensive production from the shortstop position. Perhaps bringing Phelps up to man second along with that could get them a league-average, or maybe even above-average, middle infield.
While that may be the best solution, I wouldn’t bet on the Indians pursuing it–Orlando Cabrera‘s been very public about wanting to play every day, and Phelps isn’t even on the 40-man, so it’s more likely that the Cabreras will be the full-time starters to open the season, rather than in a platoon. In any case, Orlando Cabrera is an upgrade for Cleveland over all the current shortstop options, and since he doesn’t come at a premium price this late in the offseason, he’s a solid pickup that at least makes a bad middle infield situation slightly better until the prospects arive.