Cleveland Indians 2017 Team Preview
Key Offseason Additions
There is no bigger offseason addition in the game in the view of many than the addition of Edwin Encarnacion to the Cleveland Indians lineup. Encarnacion is one of the elite hitters in the game right now, and it is unlike the typically frugal Indians to sign a player like Encarnacion.
Encarnacion will be 34-36 over the 3 guaranteed years of his contract, but he also was a late bloomer, having not eclipsed 600 plate appearances in a season until he was 29 years old, so while he’s been up in the league since he was 22, he’s really just 5 years into his full-time career.
Those 5 years have been incredibly impressive as well, as Encarnacion has AVERAGED a .272/.367/.544 slash line with 39 home runs and 110 RBI over those 5 seasons. And before you say that was just in Toronto, that was also a 146 OPS+ in that time, so he was 46% better than league average for hitters even with his hitting environment.
The other major contract of the offseason was signing left-handed reliever Boone Logan to a one-year deal with an option for 2018 that had $6.5M guaranteed.
Logan has been a well-regarded lefty specialist over his career who sports a career .670 OPS allowed against lefties and .855 allowed to righties.
After a long offseason of waiting out the market, the Indians were pleased to see defensive stalwart Austin Jackson fall to them in late January on a minor league deal that has a $1.5M base if he makes the Indians.
Under the radar, the Indians made a waiver claim that could be a nice grab for the team in lefty Tim Cooney, who they got from the St. Louis Cardinals. Cooney is coming back from a season missed due to shoulder injury, so he’s no sure thing, but he has a very high level of talent if he can get back to even working out of the bullpen.
The Indians also maneuvered on the waiver wire to grab former first-round selection Richie Shaffer. Schaffer is a powerful right-handed hitter who should give the Indians a bench bat that can cover the infield and outfield corners.
A December trade with the Dodgers brought in lanky right-hander Carlos Frias, who could be the Indians right-handed version of Andrew Miller out of the bullpen with his wicked sinker if he’s healthy after a rough 2016, injury-wise.
Another interesting offseason signing was former top prospect, outfielder Wily Mo Pena, a good friend of Encarnacion’s, who hasn’t played in the United States since 2011. He’s been playing in Japan since, and could be an intriguing follow this spring.
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Key Offseason Losses
When you listen to interviews this spring, it’s quite obvious that the statistical impact of Mike Napoli won’t be missed anywhere near the way his clubhouse impact will be.
The team is working to come together without Napoli’s leadership in the clubhouse, and while Encarnacion should bring plenty of statistical output, the elite contribution Napoli brought off the field could be the biggest loss of the offseason.
The Indians lost outfielder Rajai Davis to the Oakland Athletics, though Davis likely wouldn’t have the same amount of playing time in 2017 in Cleveland as he has in Oakland.
Veteran outfielders Marlon Byrd and Coco Crisp both left via free agency. Veteran righty reliever Jeff Manship also elected free agency in order to pitch in Korea.
Let’s take a look at the position players of note for 2017…
Next: Lineup/Bench