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December 16, 2013Reliever John Axford and the Cleveland Indians are on the verge of a free agent deal, reports ESPN.com’s Buster Olney on Twitter Sunday night.
The Indians have been in the middle of the rumors for the 30-year-old Canadian over the past week. He has a 3.28 ERA in 274 games over the past four seasons, including a dominant 46-save performance for the Milwaukee Brewers in 2011.
The Brewers then traded Axford to the St. Louis Cardinals at the waiver deadline this past August. As a setup man, he had a 1.74 ERA down the stretch for the Cardinals and did not allow a run in two postseason appearances. Then, the Cardinals non-tendered him as he was projected to earn $5.7 million in arbitration, per MLB Trade Rumors.
That makes his likely deal with the Indians a large one, probably including at least two years. We’ll fill in the details when we see more on Twitter this evening. It certainly fills the team’s hole at closer with a proven piece, but the real factor will be in the investment Cleveland paid for this security in the ninth inning.
Axford is a solid yet unspectacular addition. He lost his closer job in Milwaukee and will make the transition to the American League with a hefty paycheck. He certainly helps as an extra arm, with the Indians not wanting to put youngsters Cody Allen or Bryan Shaw in the closer role just yet.
Update at 10:10 p.m. — MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian confirmed the deal later Sunday night on Twitter. He also added that the deal is “likely a 1-year pact due to his having two more arbitration years after the coming season.”
Update at 3:45 p.m. Monday — FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal reports on Twitter Monday afternoon that Axelford’s one-year deal is worth $4.5 million plus incentives. That’s a phenomenal win for the Indians, if the case.
[Related: The Diff: Indians offseason, 2014 salary and contention windows]
6 Comments
I’m torn on this for many reasons. For starters, I firmly believe that the “closer” role is the single most overhyped (and consequently) overpaid role in sports. With holes at 3B and in the rotation, a multi-million dollar closer is a luxury I don’t think the Indians can afford.
I witnessed two years of the “Ax Man” experience first hand while living in Milwaukee, one very good (2011) and one very bad (2012). When he is on, he’s one of the best in the game. However, the last two seasons he has been absolutely brutal in the 9th.
Any time you give big money to a relief pitcher you are playing with fire, especially one with as shaky of a recent history as Axford.
Long story short: I’d do it for the right price, and that price has no business being above $5M in 2014.
I can’t see how it’s over $5M, which is chump change in today’s MLB.
he definitely needs to bring out the handlebar mustachio again
He might be better for us (given Perez’s issues), but he has had an ERA over 4.0 the last 2 seasons in the NL and has had a ton of issues. He is about the same guy as Perez, he was just on a different team (so less direct-associated heartache).
Yes, he had a nice stretch with StL to end the year, and we have Mickey to try to get the most out of him. But, he is a major question mark and I would feel awfully queasy if we hand him the closer’s job.
When is the Axe promo day? Need to plan ahead
A couple rough outings to start 2013, but was quite dominant after that. BABIP of .339 last year as well, which should come back to more normal levels.