Cleveland Indians: Assessing the Offseason Thus Far

The Cleveland Indians haven’t impressed too many with their offseason moves, but they’ve not parted with any of their young pitchers while dropping some of their “role” players at best. Are the Indians doing enough?

The Cleveland Indians still have Carlos Carrasco and Danny Salazar–and not that Corey Kluber was ever in danger of being dealt–he’s still here too. So just those names still being with the Tribe may have some considering the offseason thus far a win. And many of the other moves they’ve made have been for minor league contracts with invites to Spring Training (Joba Chamberlain, Anthony Recker just to name a couple).

The “biggest” moves have been the signing of Rajai Davis and Mike Napoli–whose addition to the roster should become official later this week. They also acquired Dan Otero from the Philadelphia Phillies for cash considerations. It’s been more of the addition by subtraction that many fans have complimented. Nick Hagadone was DFA’d and elected free agency. Jerry Sands and Chris Johnson were also DFA’d in the last week, and their status is still to be determined.

So are the Indians a better team now than the one that finished the season? Eh…they aren’t any worse, that I know.

The team doesn’t have the resources or revenue to do “big things” in free agency. They could probably do better with the money that they’re putting into Progressive Field–making things better fans that aren’t coming? That another story, but without trading away one of their young gun pitchers, the Indians weren’t going to make a big splash.

With Brantley out until likely May or June, the Indians have seemingly put together a roster featuring 48 outfielders. It seems the thought is with all of them, four will stick. The addition of Davis gives them a solid veteran presence–likely in center–while the rest will fill in around him.

Napoli gives the Tribe a “potential” run producer, but he will be needed over the course of 162 games, not just the last few months. Napoli should be good for 10-15 home runs and 40-50 RBIs, but that’s if the top of the order can get on base. With Napoli likely to be a better run-producing first baseman than Carlos Santana who struggled in that role last year. Santana will settle into the DH more often, and it will be interesting to see where he ends up in the order.

The Indians have continued to move people around in the bullpen, and Otero as well as Chamberlain could be positive additions. Hagadone had been anything but consistent in his time in Cleveland–and that’s when he stayed healthy. Jeff Manship was strong last season after making mechanical changes, but can he repeat the success? And Cody Allen has typical cardiac closer moments. In his defense, he wasn’t getting consistent work.

Next: Projecting Frankie's 2016 Season

Teams who win the postseason don’t necessarily win in the regular season. That’s good for the Indians, because they’re unlikely to win the postseason. On paper, the team doesn’t look any better–or worse–than the 2015 team. But Francisco Lindor will get a full season, and hopefully injuries will avoid the Tribe next season–aside from Brantley who’s recovering from surgery.

We’ll simply have to revisit this in a few weeks to see if anything has changed, but it’s likely we won’t know if it’s better or not until the team hits the field in the spring.