Indians: 3 familiar free agents who can help the team in 2020

The Cleveland Indians need to upgrade the roster this offseason and some familiar faces should be in the discussion for free agents to target.

The Cleveland Indians cannot afford to stand pat in free agency this offseason. That happened last year and while 93 wins were nice, not making the playoffs can be chalked up as a failure.

Depth has been an issue and the Indians need to build a strong roster all the way through spots 1-25. There is enough young talent on team-friendly deals to where the front office can target veteran players on one or two-year deals to try to go for it all over the next two seasons.

After that, we may have a different core of talent if some dreaded trades are made.

There is a whole list of top free agents this season who are all going to make a boatload of cash. Gerrit Cole and Anthony Rendon headline the class. We can all agree that the Indians aren’t even going to inquire about either player. That is way out of the budget.

Yet there are several affordable players on the market who also happen to be former Indians. The team brought back Carlos Santana last year so time to continue the tradition that allows fans to unretire old jerseys and t-shirts.

In all seriousness, these players could help the team in 2020 as several positions remain a concern. Waiting to see how journeymen guys help the team in April and May before making improvements is not acceptable in 2020. Not if the goal is to actually win the World Series.

We start our look at former Indians with a player who is now a World champion.