Nike Basketball unveils the Kyrie 3 (Pics)
December 22, 2016Still waiting for it all to set in: While We’re Waiting
December 23, 2016It happened, Cleveland. The Indians have signed first baseman and designated hitter Edwin Encarnacion to a three-year deal with a team option for a fourth year.
Source: Edwin Encarnacion has agreed to a deal with the Cleveland Indians.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) December 23, 2016
Source: The three-year deal for Edwin Encarnacion includes a club option for $20M. The buyout is $5M, which is part of the $60M guarantee.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) December 23, 2016
Encarnacion is coming off five consecutive years with at least 34 home runs, and posted 42 home runs in 2016, finishing 14th in MVP voting. Encarnacion is projected by Fangraphs Steamer 600 for the 17th highest wRC+ in 2017.
Whether measured by past performance, projection or status, the Indians have signed the best bat available this offseason and one of the 15 best hitters in baseball. Over the past half decade, Encarnacion has been one of the 10 best offensive players in baseball without a question.
Encarnacion, however, has offensive component above elite raw power that will aide that fits perfectly with this roster, contact. It is rare in this age to power hitters with sub-20 percent strikeout rate but Encarnacion makes a ton of contact, which fits perfectly in a lineup which has a flood of contact/OBP types. Contact is limited if it is not of a certain quality, Encarnacion hits the ball hard with authority.
For what it’s worth, Encarnacion fits beautifully in this lineup:
- Santana
- Kipnis
- Lindor
- Encarnacion
- Ramirez
- Brantley
- Chisenhall
- Naquin
- Perez
Order however you please, the team with an above average rotation, elite bullpen has now become an elite lineup. WFNY’s Jeff Nomina discussed the fit.
The Indians were able to acquire Encarnacion at a below market rate because of a mid-season trade and postseason usage which completely shifted the marketplace and ultimately asset allocation.
The financial implications of this deal are far stretching in terms of players like Santana, Brantley, Lindor, Ramirez and perhaps others but that is a conversation for another team. The Indians went out and got the best offensive player in free agency to add to a team that went to extra innings in Game Seven of the World Series, Cleveland Baseball has not been this exciting in a long time.
Following the most magical Indians season in over a decade, the Dolans fulfilled their promise to spend big when the time is right, signing Edwin Encarnacion.
65 Comments
YES! And Jeff nailed the 3/65. Edit, Jeff, not Jim
We break our vows – TOGETHER.
April-May: Encarnacion frustrated by Cleveland weather, ball not flying
June-August: Encarnacion pleased with ball flying out of Jacobs field
A few odd notes
1. I am not convinced Brantley is coming back. To me, it’s like waiting for Josh Gordon to come back and play.
2. Hugest UFA signing in terms of scope, committment and relavency since Jack McDowell
3. I think it was wise to sign our guy first, b/c once he signed, the market for Napoli just gets higher and worse.
4. Really good fortune of TOR being too jittery, a glut of UFA first basemen, and TOR being one of the few places with worse taxation than CLE for athletes.
5. CLE latin stars, especially Lindor’s near universal high standing among his peers in the game at this time, made this happen.
https://33.media.tumblr.com/adb1f2033f3ab86b01b13092f326ba02/tumblr_inline_nh27l9E3R81qg3qzu.gif
What a time to be a Cleveland fan.
Thanks for your service, Nap.
Hand/glove fit, and thanks Paul Dolan for swallowing hard, listening to your baseball peeps and writing the check.
Dolan stepped up, now Kip and vets have to step up as clubhouse alphas. Well played, Antonetti and Chernoff. Even if it doesn’t work this was the move. You hired Tito and now reeled in another fish plenty of teams wanted. How often have we said that about the Cleveland Indians.
No doubt about it.
“Encarnacion finished 11th in MVP voting in 2012, 14th in 2013, 12th in 2015, 14th in 2016.”
Wooooooooooooooooooooooo
I’d love for you guys to find the national writer and local guy who tweeted the Indians signing Encarnacion was a pipe dream with no chance of happening. I feel the tweets have been removed
I am pleased.
Yikes, that angle didn’t even occur to me. Protoge ignores the former master’s Matt Lawton lessons. Tune in next season for the exciting conclusion.
Buster Olney did say that, but I’m having trouble finding the tweet.
https://twitter.com/ChrisFedor/status/805961082510671873
https://twitter.com/Buster_ESPN/status/812127846487511040
Good god, Lindor is gonna win the MVP with EE hitting behind him next year.
Shapiro offered that guaranteed fourth year and EE turned him down. That doesn’t seem conservative. He came out aggressive.
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DOLANZ *WERE* CHEEP!!!
Shapiro is cheap.
4a. And a ton of big market money and assets already shelled out to relievers (large thanks to Tito / Miller)
Sit tight until the deadline, then go get that center fielder!!!
Or see if the Blue Jays are going full rebuild and might be willing to part with Pillar?
http://i.giphy.com/Dimq0Dnj60DWo.gif
For a bag of bats maybe. For a legit prospect, no thanks.
Do you have any idea how difficult it is to make Canadians angry? Cleveland has managed to do that several times this year. Despite potentially gaining a nice return for the Jays, Shapiro cannot make a deal with the Indians this year. Really bad look – especially considering his previous employer.
Who’s bats? Kluber needs his for postseason ribbies.
Do you at least agree that Pillar would be a substantial upgrade?
***nevermind… I thought someone scored on Kluber’s glorious infield single***
I completely agree about Brantley. Last year I said I doubted he’d be even close to the player he once was. I hope we are wrong.
Happy Festivus to all!!
Took long enough
I was thinking Michael Martinez signature……
Upgrade yes, tho not a fan.
OK, we can still be friends.
My TL has been full of examples of Perez and Carrasco giving back to the Latin American communities. And it certainly doesn’t hurt having Lindor standing next to Papi on the MLB awards stage. Sure beats DUI mugshots.
Don’t disrupt the narrative with information. DoLans were never cheap, it was always Shapiro.
Count me in the skeptical Brantley camp. I read somewhere a few months back that he is going to miss significant time next season too. Don’t remember where I read it, don’t know how legit it was, but until I see him out there looking like his old self…
Blue Jays fans versus Indians fans https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9e478e16b71ab38e614e80e4d5d56d7ef0ee4483fe3c1b0a4bb89b2c31e71582.jpg
ROR
He came out aggressive but then made a critical, insecure error in prematurely pulling the offer and quickly grabbing inferior replacements, when better bats are still out there. That’s what everyone is upset about in Toronto: the fans, certainly EE (who wanted to stay there) and his agent, and undoubtedly Shapiro himself. Read this, for example: https://www.thestar.com/sports/bluejays/2016/12/22/edwin-encarnacion-agrees-to-3-year-deal-in-cleveland-reports.html
No one would have outbid Shapiro if he waited. This was a Shapiro and Kinzer fail. And the Tribe pounced on the error.
“but then made a critical, insecure error in prematurely pulling the offer and quickly grabbing inferior replacements”
I may have written the same thing about HBT and Schwartz
“The Jays are now a lesser team because of it, and Encarnacion is in Cleveland.”
I’m just going to revel in that for a little while.
YAY! Thank you Mark Shapiro! I know it’s hard in small market Toronto!
That was my first thought too!
I know, right? This must be a little taste of what Patriots and Ravens fans feel like on draft day: watch the other teams get jittery, scoop up the gold they fumble.
In fairness, there may not be a worse reporter in all of cleveland than Fedor (and that’s saying something…)
https://www.thestar.com/sports/bluejays/2016/12/21/encarnacion-team-blames-blue-jays-for-failed-reunion.html
Shockingly, Kinzer says it’s all about the other guy:
“Now, people are saying we overplayed our hand,” Kinzer said. “That was
not the case. It was a case of, we had no idea the Jays would move that
fast.”
Yes, lousy msm media and 3rd string quarterbacks seem to be attracted to the same mysterious force emanating from the shores of Lake Erie.
yeah. But you could see how the Tribe’s offer gave everyone the palatable fig leaf of a win-win: Kinzer gets to tell EE “just do what you do and with salary inflation someone will get you to that $80 over 4 years, Cleveland or someone else.” And Chernoff gets to tell Paul Dolan: “Toronto guaranteed $80 and we’re paying $60. If this guy is still raking and we’re still competing in 2020, one last year at $20 will be a below-market deal.”
I think when the river caught fire, it created a dimensional vortex which draws all the bad to the CLE.
Oh man is that wrong (he says while laughing)