Cleveland Indians: Lonnie Chisenhall playing himself into an extension

Despite a couple stints on the disabled list already, outfielder Lonnie Chisenhall is having a career year for the Cleveland Indians and is playing himself into a contract extension.

When the 2017 season started, many looked at the Cleveland Indians offense and were expecting big things. They were coming off a year in which they were near the top of the American League in several offensive categories including runs scored and they added free agent slugger Edwin Encarnacion and were getting injured outfielder Michael Brantley back.

However, what most probably weren’t expecting was for Lonnie Chisenhall to be leading the club in runs batted in on July 8.

Yet, amazingly here we are, despite the fact that Chisenhall has had not one but two stints on the disabled list already this year. In just 62 games this year, Chisenhall is hitting .306 with 12 home runs 51 runs batted in, which leads the club.

His 12 home runs are just one shy of his career high of 13 from back in 2014. That year he played in 142 games and had 533 plate appearances (both also career highs). Needless to say, it would appear that Chisenhall will smash that mark for home runs, despite the missed playing time.

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Chisenhall is currently making $4.3 million on the one-year deal he signed to avoid arbitration this winter. He will still be under team control for one more season in 2018 as he’ll finish 2017 with just under six years of service time (5.158 to be exact); therefore, the Indians don’t have to extend Chisenhall and could decide to just play out his final year.

However, the Indians are known for extending players and even did it this past winter with fellow platoon outfielder Brandon Guyer who they signed to a two-year deal, which also included a team option for a third year which would be Guyer’s first free agent year.

Chisenhall would be tougher to extend since he’ll be a year closer to free agency plus could be coming off a much better year. Perhaps the Indians would even consider it over the All-Star break.

How much is Chisenhall really worth?

The next question is, how much is Chisenhall worth? He’s been known to have some scorching hot stretches, most notably the first several weeks of the 2014 season when he looked like he could be on his way to an All-Star Game before cooling off after his three-homer night in Texas. Is Chisenhall simply in one of those hot stretches or is this the real deal? That’s the million dollar question.

The Indians could try to get him to agree to a simple two-year deal, buying out his final year of arbitration and one year of free agency. It gives the Indians some certainty going forward with the roster without putting too much risk on Chisenhall flopping in the future. The Indians were able to get Asdrubal Cabrera to agree to such a deal a few years ago so perhaps it’s possible.

Another route would be a longer deal, like a three-year deal in the $24-30 million dollar range. Still only 28 years old, that would only put Chisenhall at 31 in the final year of his deal, still not a big risk even for a small market club.

The Indians may like the longer deal too as they know there’s a good chance Brantley could leave after 2018 and even with Bradley Zimmer looking like a star, having a veteran in the outfield could be beneficial come 2019 and beyond.

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So what do you think, has Lonnie Chisenhall done enough to warrant a contract extension? Or should the Cleveland Indians wait and let Chisenhall enter his walk year on a one-year deal in 2018? Let us know in the comments below.