The Cleveland Indians haven’t done much this winter. Despite being connected to several free agents and having everyone from Grady Sizemore to Luis Valbuena pop up in trade rumors, the Indians have signed only one major-league free agent, and new GM Chris Antonetti hasn’t pulled off a single trade. Inactivity isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it’s safe to say the team doesn’t look much better now than it did four months ago.
So when ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick released his offseason grades for the AL Central on Monday, I was expecting Cleveland would a get a C, plus-or-minus a plus or a minus. Imagine my surprise when I scrolled down the page and saw “Grade: D.” Granted, Crasnick’s grading curve is a little off—the Detroit Tigers overpaid for Victor Martinez and Joaquin Benoit, yet got a better grade (B) than the Tampa Bay Rays (B-), who signed one of the best hitters in the game for $2 million and traded a pitcher they didn’t need for a treasure trove of prospects.
But still—a D? Really? Let’s see what Mr. Crasnick has to say for himself:
The Tribe won 69 games, and they’ve done nothing this offseason to upgrade the team through free agency or trades. Chris Antonetti, in his first year as general manager, is on a tight leash from the Dolan family, and Austin Kearns’ $1.3 million contract is the only major league deal given out by the team this winter.
That’s a fair point about the payroll. I’m not sure why the budget is so low this year—the 2011 Opening Day payroll will probably be around half of what it was in 2009 ($81.6 million). Take out Travis Hafner, and Alex Rodriguez will make more than the entire Indians’ roster this year.
Still, I think Crasnick is missing the point. The Indians are (hopefully) on the upswing of the rebuilding cycle. It doesn’t matter that I can count the number of players who don’t have big question marks on one hand. Every roster spot that isn’t occupied by an established, useful veteran has at least one promising prospect who either has had a taste of the big leagues but will get his first full season in 2011, or will be making his MLB debut in the near future. It doesn’t make sense to invest in an impact player to fill a hole on the depth chart with so many interesting young in-house candidates waiting for their shots.
But wait! Crasnick has more. Let’s read on:
The Indians are betting on injury comebacks by Grady Sizemore, Asdrubal Cabrera and Carlos Santana, progress from Matt LaPorta, Michael Brantley and the young big leaguers and the eventual arrival of third baseman Lonnie Chisenhall, second baseman Jason Kipnis and the franchise’s other top prospects in the minors.
Exactly. That’s what I was saying! In the very next sentence, Crasnick gives a laundry list of reasons for why Cleveland isn’t in the market for a catcher, first baseman, second baseman, third baseman, shortstop, left fielder, or center fielder. The only places he left out were right field and designated hitter, where Shin-Soo Choo and Travis Hafner are probably the players the Tribe is most sure of.
Why would the Indians have pursued Derek Jeter when they’ve got a supposedly healthy Asdrubal Cabrera? What’s the use of signing a mediocre first baseman if they’re expecting growth from Matt LaPorta? Should the Indians have outbid the Texas Rangers and paid $97 million for Adrian Beltre, just so they could have had an impact player at third base for three months until Lonnie Chisenhall gets called up? Pitching is a bigger question mark, and there’s been plenty of talk about bringing in an innings-eater or a reclamation project in on a short-term deal, but anyone the Indians signed at this point would be more of a stopgap than an “upgrade.”
As a fan, sure, I’d have liked to see them land a big name this winter. I’m tired of Cleveland being “exit only” for top-tier free agents. But wouldn’t you say the front office’s willingness to withstand the public pressure for marginal improvement in the short term and forge on in pursuit of delayed yet prolonged success in a couple years is admirable? If anything, that should be worth bonus points.
So since you’ve rescinded your criticism, Professor Crasnick, might you want to re-calibrate your grading curve? Oops, I think we lost him—he made a U-turn a few streets back.
If the plan fails to work, Cleveland might become more active in trying to move Fausto Carmona or even Shin-Soo Choo, valuable commodities who are about to get more expensive. Some competing executives are wondering why the Indians didn’t act more boldly and shop those players more actively this winter.
First the Indians didn’t do enough to improve. Then they didn’t need to make any moves because they’ve got a plan for the roster. Now they need to give up and rebuild again? Cleveland is losing points for not improving enough while simultaneously being punished for not holding a fire sale. All in the span of five sentences.
Anyway, aside from my fervent belief that Choo will sign a 50-year contract extension and stay with the Tribe for the rest of his career (it’s totally realistic, I promise), I’m not sure what Crasnick is basing this on. Trading Carmona would make a lot of sense for the Indians if they get enough in return, but unless the New York Yankees offered Jesus Montero, Dellin Betances and Robinson Cano for him and forgot to tell anybody but Crasnick, we have no reason to believe Antonetti has gotten a worthwhile offer. The only other player who the Tribe should be actively looking to deal at this point is Hafner, and a $13 million injury-prone DH who can’t hit lefties probably isn’t worth much on the trade market right now.
There are legitimate questions to be asked about the front office’s follow-through this winter—that the Indians had been connected to Bartolo Colon and Nick Punto for weeks without any other teams expressing interest, yet both ended up signing elsewhere. There are similar stories with Jorge Cantu, Casey Kotchman, Fred Lewis, Bruce Chen, and Brad Penny. Heck, Austin Kearns was spotted walking around the Progressive Field clubhouse a month before the Indians officially signed him. Antonetti might not have had lofty aspirations for the offseason, but the fact that so many potential small deals fell through could be considered a disappointment.
But even considering that (which Crasnick doesn’t), was the Indians’ offseason really worse than the Yankees’ (D+)? The Bombers missed out on Cliff Lee, around whom New York had been preemptively building its rotation, and Zack Greinke, the only other ace to have changed teams this offseason. Making matters worse, Andy Pettitte retired. Meanwhile, the Bombers overpaid for both Derek Jeter and Rafael Soriano and managed to embarrass themselves in the negotiations with Jeter and the intra-organizational rift revealed in the Soriano signing. Apparently, that’s better than the Indians’ strategy of not needing to make any big moves and acting accordingly.
The Indians might not have had a great offseason, but they certainly don’t deserve a mark that bad. If anyone deserves a near-failing grade, it’s Crasnick for his baseless condemnation and disjointed argument.
[poll id="13"]