2015-16 Cleveland Indians

To address their need for power and fill holes in the outfield and at third base, the Indians signed Justin Upton and traded for Joey Gallo.

Cleveland went into the off-season in an amazing position. The terrible contracts for Michael Bourn and Nick Swisher were (mostly) off the books — but as part of the 2015 Opening Day payroll, those contracts meant more 2016 budget room than the Indians will give themselves in real life. Dollar for dollar, Cleveland has the best starting rotation in the American League. Up the middle, Francisco Lindor had a breakout rookie year and Jason Kipnis came out on the positive side of defensive metrics for a change.

The bad news was at the corners. Lonnie Chisenhall did not hit, although (in case you missed it) he proved to be an astonishingly good defender after the Indians moved him from third to right. Giovanny Urshela did not hit when given a shot. Chris Johnson’s inflated contract was part of the Bourn deal; his line drives continued not to drop, and continued neither to walk nor hit for power. Cleveland as a team was 22nd in the league in home runs.

Sunday evening, before the week began, I brushed up on our ground rules, the Indians’ situation, and the free agent wire. Some very interesting outfielders were available but really just one third baseman of note (David Freese). I decided to make third base an early trading priority and outfield a late priority – maybe a big name would come cheaper than expected or maybe someone who paid big would need to shed talent. I sent out early feelers; my initial priorities at third were Todd Frazier, Adrian Beltre (figuring the Rangers would want to open the position Joey Gallo), Luis Valbuena, and Martin Prado, although I was lukewarm on Prado given the need for power. I expected people to be interested in Cleveland’s pitchers but aside from Allen that wasn’t the case.

Monday saw a reasonable amount of e-mail but then something happened to me that would never happen to a GM in real life: I got swamped at my (non-baseball) office. I imagine that GMs have 435 ongoing weekly (daily?) one-on-one conversations, where each person has done their homework (or their staff has done it for them). Trade threads died and it was mostly my fault. I learned that the Rangers weren’t in a hurry to move Beltre (and in fact that Gallo was available) and that they wanted Cody Allen and Yan Gomes. Despite his sophomore slump I see Gomes providing far more valuable than a typical starting catcher, so when we finally picked up where we left off I floated Bradley Zimmer and we quickly got a deal done.

Winning the Justin Upton sweepstakes was a surprise. As he was in the first group, although I expected him to clear the $20M mark, I asked myself: what was the price point where I would kick myself if I’d missed a chance to grab him? It turns out $18M was just over what other people bid.

Signings
Justin Upton ($18M), Mark Reynolds ($2.5M), Tony Sipp ($3M), Matt Albers ($1.5M), Casey McGehee (NRI), Shawn Kelley (NRI)

Trade
Joey Gallo (for Cody Allen, Bradley Zimmer, Chris Johnson, and $7M)

Projected 2016 lineup
1. 2B Jason Kipnis
2. SS Francisco Lindor
3. CF Michael Brantley
4. 1B Carlos Santana
5. RF Justin Upton
6. 3B Joey Gallo
7. DH Ryan Raburn
8. RF Lonnie Chisenhall
9. C Yan Gomes

Bench:
c – Roberto Perez, mi – Jose Ramirez, ci – Mark Reynolds, of – Abraham Almonte

sp1 Corey Kluber
sp2 Carlos Carrasco
sp3 – Danny Salazar
sp4 – Trevor Bauer
sp5 – Cody Anderson

Bullpen:
Bryan Shaw, Tony Sipp (L), Matt Albers, Jeff Manship, Kyle Crockett (L), Josh Tomlin, Zach McAllister

This is a team whose best days are (immediately?) ahead, that finished over .500 and in (fringe) wild card contention in 2014 and 2015 despite some massive flaws. This team should be able to run off a string of 90+ win seasons. There are future challenges as Lindor and the pitchers get more expensive (although with one eye towards that I did come in $4M under budget) but this team is already capable of contending for a title; let’s try.

Indians Roster