Indians to sign Nick Johnson

The Tribe is reportedly on the verge of signing Nick Johnson.  Now here's a deal that makes some sense, even if it's not a world-beater.  First, it's a minor league deal, no one's getting shuttled off the roster for Johnson, who may very well be starting the season on the 60-day DL even if he were on the 40-man.  Second, there's no sense in pretending there's not a gigantic question mark playing first for the Indians this year.  If Johnson can play the field (and setting aside the collision with the Indians' current left fielder, he's not found a way to get hurt doing that), he's a decent reserve option, even if he's more punchless than what you'd like from a first baseman.  Even with the dearth of power, though, the guy still churns out great OPS+ numbers because you just can't keep him off first base (career OBP is .401).

 

Will this work out? Almost certainly not -- he can't swing a bat even though his surgery was in May of last year, he's had back issues, and he was considered a DH-only player when the Yankees signed him last year.  But could the Tribe have added a possible DH to spell Hafner and a first baseman who can get on at a .380 clip and maybe rediscover a power stroke for 20 doubles? Yes. And when the only other "first baseman" the Tribe has is catcher Carlos Santana, it doesn't hurt to have Johnson around, because Santana can't be an every day guy when the Indians don't have any catching in the high minors pipeline (or 40-man roster).

The Curse of Chris Antonetti

Austin Kearns arrested on suspicion of DUI.  Well, let's just hope this is the worst offseason Chris Antonetti ever has.  Thus far, he's signed a fourth outfielder who got himself arrested, a second baseman who is neither a second baseman nor a marked upgrade over the current slate of misfits and incompetents, and a middle reliever who is okay, but serves no real purpose on a team that's destined to hit 100 losses.

I think Kearns is the best signing (though given our common surname, I probably just like being able to phrase it that way), but this isn't exactly encouraging news.

MLB allows Red Sox a 41-man roster

Well, try as I might, I just cannot see how this is an acceptable contract under Major League Baseball league rules. Andrew Miller, the once-promising Tigers prospect who flamed out in Florida, has signed a minor league deal with the Red Sox. He could have gotten major league contracts from the Pirates and Indians of the world, but he's with the Red Sox.

That's something baseball can't fix. People will take less to win, just the same as the Heat loaded up on decent veteran players who decided to take 50% or greater pay cuts to play with Wade/James/Bosh.

Miller's contract, on the other hand, is not the same thing.  The contract he has with the Red Sox is egregious and unfair to the game.  If the Red Sox put him on the major league roster, he gets $1.3 million.  Fair enough. If he then gets sent to the minors, because he can no longer be optioned, he would have to be designated for assignment and, therefore, made available to all teams.  But in this case, it's different. If he gets DFA'd and someone claims him, he has an option for $3 million that vests for 2012.  In other words, the Red Sox have a ready-made 41-man roster, because they can take him off the 40-man at will, so long as no one feels interested in paying $3 million for a player the Red Sox deemed unworthy of playing in the majors.

That MLB allows this kind of provision defeats the entire purpose of being designated for assignment.  The 40-man roster is supposed to make it so that teams like the Red Sox will occasionally have to lose off 26th men that might prove to be solid roster pieces -- or even starters -- for lesser clubs.  Instead, it will just make the rich richer -- players will sign these poison pill contracts with the teams they don't want to leave -- the Yankees, the Red Sox, the Phillies -- but the Indians? No way.  Bud Selig needs to exercise his authority to act in the best interests of baseball and void the contract.

As a side note, this blog will now be mirrored at MLBLogs

Indians sign Orlando Cabrera

You know those environmental ads from the 1970s that had an Indian (given what this blog covers, I should emphasize that I mean a Native American and not, say, Rico Carty or Rick Manning) seeing a polluted and litter-covered landscape shedding a single tear? (Well, I don't, not really, I was born in 1980.)  But, since for some reason I am culturally aware of them, that's pretty much the response I have to the latest Indians signing.  It takes such little effort to not litter, to not spew toxic pollution into the sky, and to not sign Orlando Cabrera. And yet people do these things anyway.

Which, whatever, I'm sure there's a reason to sign Orlando Cabrera to a minor league deal, let him come to camp Grudzielanek-style, then release him in May despite the fact that he's playing better than the alternatives (again, Grudzielanek-style) to make room for a worthless player like Luis Valbuena to negative-WAR his way through the season. The move also means that the Indians could move Asdrubal Cabrera back to second base and see if that helps their woeful infield defense or it means that Orlando Cabrera is a candidate to replace Jayson "The Head Lice Eliminator" Nix.

Nope. Wrong (major league deal). Wrong (won't play as well as Grudzielanek, who was an experienced 2B and a career 90 OPS+ player, well better than Cabrera, though Cabrera has a chance to notch an extra-base hit this season -- more than Grudz did in his 30 hits last year). Wrong (AsCab's staying at shortstop). Wrong (reports have Cabrera playing second base). 0-for-4. Well, that looks pretty much identical to what Cabrera's statline will 4 days a week.

So let me be the first to say...Ugh.

Kenny Lofton: Hall of Famer?

A week ago, America's greatest living writer Joe Posnanski (with all apologies to Michael Chabon, despite being nominally a sportswriter, Posnanski covers a lot broader turf), in explaining his Hall of Fame vote for Tim Raines, analyzed the greatest leadoff hitters -- in that they met certain criteria (lineup position was not actually among these). The takeaway from it was that Raines was a clear hall of famer. But that wasn't the end of it. Rather, as a final note, Posnanski added: The other thing about that "great leadoff hitters" list? Yeah, Kenny Lofton was probably a better player than you remembered."

Now Rob Neyer is on the Kenny Lofton bandwagon. Well, maybe, like Posnanski, he doesn't say Lofton is a Hall of Famer, but he certainly implies it's a question worthy of consideration. Neyer states, "I believe Barry Larkin gets in next year. That leaves seven holdovers in 2013 ... who will be joined by Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Curt Schilling, Craig Biggio, Sammy Sosa, Mike Piazza, and the terribly underrated Kenny Lofton."

And I guess I'm just taken aback by it.

I love Kenny Lofton. Love the guy unabashedly.

You can't spell punto without punt.

Ugh. Please let the mutual interest be in stamp collecting.

Signing Nick Punto would solve one problem, it would solve the problem of who in the Indians infield can field. It would create some problems in that he's a worse hitter than you would ever want to have in your lineup. Here was my response when the Twins mistakenly gave him 2 years and $8 million. And he was more useful then. Really, he's adequate at shortstop and respectable at third base. But to call his hitting anemic is an insult to people who have anemia. Fangraphs' WAR looks on him favorably, giving him over 1 WAR each of the last three years. Baseball-reference...well, let's just say they disagree. And looking at b-r's oWAR numbers, I don't know how on earth they figured them. I don't know how a .228/.337/.271 season adds up to .8 wins contributed. Maybe it's the 16 steals?

I know there's not much on the third base/utility infield market aside from the dreaded Craig Counsell, but I'd rather have stuck with Andy Marte at third base than spend actual American currency to acquire Nick Punto, whose bat and glove fall short of the legendary Indians relief pitcher. Punto's only add is versatility, being able to not hit at three different spots on the infield. For that, the Indians would be better off waiting until February and picking the best of what's left. Punto will still be out there, unless Dayton Moore gets to him first. Willie Bloomquist and Jerry Hairston Jr. might be as well. You don't go utility infielder bargain shopping in early December unless you are Ruben Amaro, Jr. And that leads to things like giving Juan Castro money to play baseball.

Indians Outlook for 2011

The Indians' offseason really kicks off today. For all the buzz surrounding the key signing of Luke Carlin, it won't compare to the Indians signing players who aren't intended solely to wear a jersey number greater than 60 in spring training. Today may add a number of players to the Indians' shopping list, since it's the non-tender deadline -- an opportunity to buy players who other clubs are giving up early on or that they simply don't believe are worth the contracts that they'd have to be tendered.

Alas, only players fitting into the former category are likely to wash ashore in Cleveland. Players like Hideki Okajima and Matt Diaz are likely to get some form of actual money somewhere, they will just do so as free agents.

Thus far, the deadline has been relatively quiet -- Bobby Jenks is far and away the biggest name non-tendered, and it's a certainty he'll find work somewhere other than Ontario and Carnegie.

A number of the players who have already been non-tendered are former Indians themselves.