Jimmy Haslam apologizes, pledges continuity in Berea
December 4, 2016Holiday Gifts for the Cleveland Sports Fan: While We’re Waiting
December 5, 2016One of the few obvious positions of need for the Cleveland Indians is the first base/designated hitter role. With the liklihood of Mike Napolis heading for greener, multi-year pastures, it appears the team has already begun scouring the market for his replacement for at least 2017.
FOX Sports’ Jon Morosi reports that the Indians are considering a broad collection of options for the role.
Mitch Moreland has drawn interest from the #BlueJays, in addition to the #Indians and others, sources say. @MLB @MLBNetwork
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) December 4, 2016
Sources: #Indians have shown interest in broad range of free-agent first basemen, including Napoli, Moreland, Lind, and Carter. @MLB
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) December 4, 2016
Each of the players Morosi references has their own diverse strength and concerning warts. Moreland brings a strong glove at first base with solid contact skills, perhaps the best pairing of skill sets available on this list. If the Indians want to go the route of increased power with an absurd strikeout rate, Carter is the best option. A return of Napoli would include the best walk rate but also significant swing-and-miss with a little power sprinkled in. One thing is easily seen, 2016 Napoli will likely never be repeated.
Adam Lind brings an interesting skill set of his own with above-average contact skills to go with above-average power. Unfortunately, Lind is brutal defender with incredibly limited athleticism that would certainly undermine the competence of the Indians infield.
Both Moreland and Lind are left-handed hitters which serves a two-fold advantage for the Indians. First, Progressive field is far more favorable to left-handed hitters than right-handed hitters due to the elevated left field fence. Second, Major League starters are predominantly right handed, therefore, Moreland and Lind have the dominant platoon split whereas Napoli and Carter would need to be hidden against most right-handed starters.
None of these options are a perfect fit or brings a particularly exciting skill set, but if forced to choose, I would take Lind’s contact skills and give first base to Santana full time. And because Morosi said “including,” which implies the possibility of more options I will continue to drive the Matt Holliday to Cleveland bandwagon.
11 Comments
Brantley.
Holliday to yanks for 1 yr 13M! Ugh
Google is paying 97$ per hour! Work for few hours and have longer with friends & family! !mj177d:
On tuesday I got a great new Land Rover Range Rover from having earned $8752 this last four weeks.. Its the most-financialy rewarding I’ve had.. It sounds unbelievable but you wont forgive yourself if you don’t check it
!mj177d:
➽➽
➽➽;➽➽ http://GoogleFinancialJobsCash176DigitalImageGetPay$97Hour… ★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★::::::!mj177d:….,………
Hell, if David Ortiz could do it once or twice a year…
Legit question: What does this say about Carlos? Less time at 1b?
And if CLE offered him 13, Yanks woulda went 14.
Depends on the the glove they get. Tito liked the platoon there last year.
Then they should have. Yankees are not the bottomless pit they used to be.
What about getting Chis some time at first?
He’ll get his AB’s in Right. They still have a hole to fill in CF or LF. To me it makes sense not to put Brantley out there diving for balls and banging against walls. He’s a lefty, move him to first.
Who gets playing time defensively will be dependent on the glove. It’s the new bat they need that they are trying to fill.
Eddie E would be a real ball kick to Shapiro. Man I’d love to see them make that move.
Yup 🙁
http://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/mlb/report-yankees-agree-to-one-year-dollar13-million-deal-with-matt-holliday/ar-AAl8pYV?OCID=ansmsnnews11