Cleveland Indians: Potential outfield options for the 2018 season

The Cleveland Indians have some questions to answer in the outfield for 2018. Will they be answered through free agency, or could a trade be on the horizon?

MLB’s free agent frenzy is underway, and the Cleveland Indians are on a short list of teams looking to add firepower to a roster with World Series aspirations. This will be no small task for the Tribe’s front office, with two key players hitting the open market in Jay Bruce and Carlos Santana.

Bruce figures to be well out of the Indians’ price range, but it may be worth it for Cleveland to fork over significant cash to keep Santana given the uninspiring crop of affordable free agent first basemen. In any case, the Indians need to prepare for the very real possibility that neither player returns in 2018.

Losing Santana would leave a sizable void at first base, but the Indians could fill it on the cheap with a player like Mitch Moreland or Lucas Duda. The probable departure of Bruce leaves an outfield already comprised mostly of depth players all the more shallow.

The Indians cannot afford to enter year three of World Series contention without a solid outfield, so this needs to be their primary focus this winter.

While it would be exciting for Indians fans to see the team make a big splash with a Lorenzo Cain signing, that’s probably not in the realm of possibility. Cain figures to earn the second-most lucrative contract among free agent outfielders behind only J.D. Martinez.

With that in mind, the Tribe will likely have to aim lower in the market while hoping for improvements and healthier seasons out of the players already in the clubhouse. Here are some of their options.

Carlos Gonzalez is coming off a relatively down year by his standards, failing to reach even the 15-home run plateau despite playing half his games at hitter-friendly Coors Field. It’s hard to imagine that there’s not still something left in the tank for the former Rockies star, however.

Gonzalez would be a welcome addition to an Indians lineup already chock full of offensive firepower, and he would fill the void in right field left behind by Bruce.

Jon Heyman of FanRagSports.com believes Gonzalez can be locked into a one-year deal worth $15 million. If the Indians want a short-term solution to their outfield issues, they could do worse than paying Gonzalez $15 million to hit behind Edwin Encarnacion for one year.

Jon Jay is a career .288 hitter who has only struck out 100 times once in his career. He wouldn’t bring the power potential of a player like Gonzalez, but he’s a consistent hitter that can play all three outfield positions. He didn’t make a single error in 2017, and has a career fielding percentage of .996.

Sometimes it’s not a high-profile signing that puts a team over the top, but rather a guy like Jay. He won’t command a long-term deal or an expensive salary, and he’d be a fine addition to the bottom of the Indians’ lineup.

Cameron Maybin represents another low-budget option, although he would likely be a depth addition as opposed to an everyday player. Still, he’s especially intriguing in the event the Indians elect to give Michael Brantley some run at first base.

Maybin won’t make it rain from home plate, having posted just a .228 batting average and 10 home runs across 2017. He did, however, steal 33 bases, his highest season total since 2011. The Indians suffered a significant drop-off in stolen bases from 2016 to 2017, so Maybin could bring back the havoc on the base paths.

The final option we’ll discuss would not come via free agency, but rather the trade market. Andrew McCutchen has one year and $14.5 million left on his contract with the Pittsburgh Pirates, and checks all the boxes as far as the Indians’ needs.

First and foremost, he would alleviate the need for any future Jason Kipnis experiments in center field. Kipnis did a fine job in center for the short time he played it in 2017, but it was an injury-driven decision to put him out there in the first place.

If Bradley Zimmer improves offensively this upcoming spring (he struck out in 33 percent of his 2017 at-bats), he may well be the better defensive option in center field. In that case, McCutchen could slide over to right, where he had a short stint in 2017.

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Either way, the mere presence of McCutchen in the Indians clubhouse would give Terry Francona and the rest of the coaching staff peace of mind when formulating the plan of attack in the outfield.

As far as his offense is concerned, McCutchen could hit anywhere from first through fifth in the Indians batting order and reasonably be expected to perform well.

He’s coming off a resurgent 2017 campaign in which he significantly lowered his strikeout total from the previous two seasons while also hitting 28 big flies and driving in 88 runs.

One can’t help but wonder what he could do in a lineup with the likes of Francisco Lindor, Jose Ramirez and Edwin Encarnacion.

Pittsburgh’s return in a deal such as this wouldn’t be anything to sneeze at. The Indians have a wide array of prospects to send back, but it’s hard to imagine the Pirates settling for any package that didn’t include pitcher Triston McKenzie.

Bradley Zimmer himself could even be a part of the asking price, although it would be unwise for the Tribe to part with their center fielder of the future in return for one guaranteed year of McCutchen.

Next: Exploring first base options already on the team

In any case, acquiring McCutchen would send seismic waves throughout the American League, and would fall right in line with the promise the Indians’ front office has been making to Tribe fans ever since their 2016 trade for Andrew Miller: We know we can win a World Series with this group, and we are going to do everything we can to make that happen.

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