Baseball (Archive)

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Back to the Present

Just a little break from the countdown.

I’m going to expound a little more on why the Indians are doing what they’re doing this year.

In a past post, I criticized the Tigers for giving Fernando Vina a two year contract, because:

a) He’s not worth $3M/year

b) He’s not going to be around on the next good Tiger team

c) He costs the Tigers financial flexibility

I’m going to concentrate on (c), because that is the main reason why the Indians signed who they signed this off-season. If you will assume the Indians’ projected year for competing for a championship (not the division) is 2005, then why should they sign players to multi-year deals this year? All that would do is to hamstring the Indians when they actually have a chance of winning. So they went out and signed “stopgaps”, or players who will be adequate players for a year and then disposed of. Ron Belliard, Jose Jiminez, Jeff D’Amico, and Jason Bere are all examples of this. These players were signed mainly because they needed certainty at their position. Belliard was signed because Brandon Phillips needs more seasoning, the starters were signed because of the inexperience of the young starters, and Jiminez was signed to provide depth to the bullpen.

Now why the one-year deals? This is where financial flexibility comes in. Let’s crunch some numbers.

Here’s who has guaranteed money coming in 2005:

$4.5M CC Sabathia

$6M Matt Lawton

That’s only $10.5M, which is amazing if you assume the Indians will have a payroll anywhere between $50-60M in 2005. They’ll use some of the money for increases in salary for arbitration-eligible players, but that shouldn’t be that big of an issue yet . We’ll assume $20M will be spent on re-signing the Indians’ arbitration-eligible players, as well as the players with 0-2 years of experience.

This leaves approximately $20M-$30M for the Indians to play with. This gives them tremendous flexibility to make any move they see fit to improve the team. After 2004, the Indians will have a much better idea as to where they’ll need help. If Brandon Phillips rebounds and has a good year, there’s no need to sign a second baseman (or shortstop). If Jhonny Peralta really takes off at short or third, that removes a need. If Jeremy Guthrie comes to Cleveland and pitches well, there’s another need removed.

The more needs are satisfied by your minor-leaguers (who are inherently cheaper than the equivalent free agent) the more money you’ll be able to spend on the needs that are left. This is why having a pipeline of young talent is so crucial, and the main reason why the Indians had to rebuild in the first place. If you have to spend money to fill holes via free agency, you really take up a lot of money. Now, if your team resides in New York or Boston, this isn’t really a big issue. But the Indians reside in a middling market, so they have to choose wisely who to spend on.

Now why spend in 2005 rather than 2004? Because the core really hasn’t shown it’s ready to win yet. There’s a lot of promise, but no objective observer is going to pencil in the Indians for 90 wins. But most agree that the talent is there; all that remains is for that talent to translate to wins. By next year, a lot of bad contracts are going to go away, which, coinciding with the maturation of the players who got their first taste of the majors last year, should make for the perfect opportunity to quickly become a contender.

Another reason why you don’t spend is that you don’t have that good an idea of whom to spend it on. Like I said previously, if Brandon Phillips rebounds, there’s no reason to sign a Luis Castillo. But if you signed him to a four-year deal, you have to pay him regardless. If the Indians signed a third baseman this offseason to a long-term contract and Corey Smith turns into Mike Schmidt next year, what do you do then? You’re stuck with a bunch of guaranteed contracts that really aren’t that useful to you, and in this day and age, you aren’t going to get rid of them very easily.

Now is this plan foolproof? No; projecting minor-league talent to major-league results is not exact, to say the least. But the Indians have stockpiled enough young talent to allow for some attrition. If more prospects go bust, then they’ll have that many more players to go get next off-season.

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#90 RHSP Orel Hershiser (1995-1997)

One of the best pitchers of the late 1980s, Hershiser came to the Indians in 1995 and showed that he had a couple of good years left. During the three years he spent in Cleveland, he posted an ERA+ of 119, 116, and 105. Thanks to Cleveland’s lethal offense, that translated to 16, 15, and 14 wins respectively.

But of course, Hershiser’s best season was in 1988, in which he was almost inhuman. He posted an ERA of 2.26, won the NL Cy Young, the NLCS MVP and pitched the Dodgers to the World Championship, picking up the World Series MVP in the process. Oh yeah, he also won the Gold Glove that year.

When the Indians went back to the World Series for the first time in 41 years by beating Seattle in 1995, Hershiser was the ALCS MVP.

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#91 OF George Hendrick (1973-1976)

A remarkably consistent player during his tenure in Cleveland, and his whole career. Traded to the Indians in exchange for Ray Fosse (post-Pete Rose) and Jack Heidemann, Hendrick produced seasons of 21, 19, 24, and 25 home runs. He was shipped to San Diego for Johnny Grubb, Hector Torres (who was then traded to Toronto to reacquire John Lowenstein) and Fred Kendall.

Eventually, he was dealt to St. Louis, where he spent the best part of his career. He was a big part of the Cardinals’ 1982 World Series win over the Milwaukee Brewers.

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#92 3B Brook Jacoby (1983-1991, 1992)

A solid player for almost a decade, Jacoby played during the worst era in Indians history. During Jacoby’s tenure, here’s the Indians’ records:

1984 75-87

1985 60-102

1986 84-78

1987 61-101

1988 78-84

1989 73-89

1990 77-85

1991 57-105

1992 76-86

Needless to say, Jacoby toiled his entire career for a moribound franchise, and somehow managed to put up decent numbers. He had his career year in 1987 (along with everyone else in baseball), hitting .300/.387/.541 with 32 HR, but amazingly enough, only 69 RBIs.

Jacoby was acquired in probably in most one-sided deal in the 1980s save the Von Hayes theft. Len Barker went to Atlanta, and the Braves sent over Jacoby and lead-off master Brett Butler, who was somehow left off this list by the Indians. Traded during 1991, Jacoby came back for one last season and started at third when his replacement, Jim Thome, broke his hand during Spring Training.

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Site Updates

Most of the internal links to the left work, with the exception of the Contracts link; I’ll work on that closer to Opening Day, when some salaries are made public. I’ve added a couple more links from the old geocities site, including a recap of the 2003 Draft; on that page you can also access the 2000, 2001, and 2002 Drafts.

I have updated the minor-league rosters to include all the NRIs, including Lou Merloni, and I’ve updated the Off-season page to include all moves through the signing of David Riske. The Options page has been revamped to include players acquired during the 2003 season.

Please let me know if you come across any dead links or other problems.

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Transactions

Signed RHRP David Riske to a one-year, $1.025M contract, avoiding arbitration

Signed IF Lou Merloni to a minor-league contract; Invited him to Spring Training

#93(tie) 2B Duane Kuiper (1974-1981)

A slick-fielding second baseman, and not much more. His lack of power was not only glaring, but comical. Kuiper used his one major-league home run (in almost 3400 PA) as a running punch line for years. Kuiper was traded in 1981 to the Giants, and spent the rest of his career with San Francisco. Three times, he got the Indians’ only hit (against Ron Guidry, Noland Ryan, and Andy Hassler) in an otherwise unblemished game.

#93(tie) C Sandy Alomar (1990-2000)

What might have been. Alomar came in the watershed Joe Carter trade in 1989, with Carlos Baerga coming to Cleveland with Sandy. In 1990, he delivered on his huge promise by winning the AL Rookie of the Year and a Gold Glove. Unfortunately, he couldn’t stay healthy throughout his career in Cleveland with rare exceptions.

In 1997, he had his best season, and we saw a glimpse of what he was capable of. He hit in 30 straight games, one short of a franchise record. He was the MVP when the All-Star game was played in Cleveland. He also hit a memorable home run off Yankee closer Mariano Rivera in the ALDS. But that season was mostly the exception, not the rule. His height (6’5″) may have been a factor as to why he broke down so much, but regardless, he was an excellent defensive catcher, a very good game-caller, and a midle-of-the-order offensive player. It’s just too bad that his potential could never be truly realized.

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#95 3B Travis Fryman (1998-2002)

Fryman originally came up with Detroit as a shortstop, and took over for Tiger legend Alan Trammell. Eventually, he settled into third base, and became one of the best in baseball during the early 1990s. In 1997, he was traded to newly-formed Arizona Diamondbacks, and traded again a month later to the Indians for Matt Williams.

Fryman had his best year with the Indians in 2000, batting .321 with 22 home runs and 106 RBIs; he also won his only Gold Glove that year. Two injury-plagued years later, Travis retired at age 33.