Cleveland Indians
The Indians cruised to a division victory in 2018 in what was, quite possibly, the worst division of all time. But the Indians were flawed, which was made evident when the Houston Astros dismantled them in the ALDS. One of those flaws was an extremely weak outfield outside of Michael Brantley, who joins Pollock in this free agent class. Their second-best outfielder by fWAR was Lonnie Chisenhall, who has already jumped ship to join the Pittsburgh Pirates.
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The Indians are very top-heavy, with Jose Ramirez and Francisco Lindor carrying them on offense and the trio of Corey Kluber, Trevor Bauer, and Carlos Carrasco leading, perhaps, the best rotation in baseball.
Barring a huge surprise, the Indians are penciled into the top spot in the AL Central, but they still seem a step below the true elite of the American League that consists of the Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, and Houston Astros. Pollock certainly wouldn’t catapult Cleveland into the top spot in the AL, but he’s the kind of supplemental piece that the Indians need to truly put them into contention.
Maybe the removal of the racist Chief Wahoo logo for the 2019 season from the uniforms will give the Tribe some good luck in the new year.
As one of the top outfielders on the market this year, Pollock will certainly have multiple suitors, though he may not find MLB free agency to bring quite the contract he’s desiring.