5 Reasons the Cleveland Indians Need to Sign Edwin Encarnacion

1.) He Fills The Teams Biggest Need

The Cleveland Indians came into free agency this year with only 2 major needs.

One was to find another power bat to fill that 1B/DH role with Napoli being a free agent and the other was to add a left handed reliever.

Of the two the more important is finding that power bat. Having a guy in the middle of the lineup that can bring home multiple runs with one swing can be a game changer.

Combine that with the fact he might be asked to play defense at 1B and should see the batter’s box four times during a routine game and that player should have more of an impact than a reliever that may only see a few batters and pitch every three games or so.

2.) He Is The Best Free-Agent Out There

The free agent market is starting to dry up and Encarnacion is the biggest name still left on the table which shouldn’t last for long.

Great players don’t see the open market very often if their team can control it so cashing in on an opportunity would be smart.

Edwin is still a pretty reliable hitter which is what he would be asked to do. Over the last six seasons he has played in at least 128 games, hit 34 home runs, and drove in 98 RBIs while hitting .263 or better.

The closest player the Indians have consistently had that resembles Encarnacion is Carlos Santana. Over that same time period Santana has appeared in at least 143 games but his career highs for batting average is .268, home runs is 34, and RBIs is 87.

In other words it would take combining Santana’s best seasons in the big leagues to roughly get Encarnacion’s worst season. That is a monster improvement.

3.) Team-Friendly Player Motivated Contract

If Encarnacion is going to sign it would likely be to a contract that would fit the Indians very well. After originally looking for 125 million before the year and then supposedly turning down four years and 80 million, the market is getting even drier. Some of the big power hitters in Carlos Beltran, Kendrys Morales, Steve Pearce, and Sean Rodriguez have already signed, taking away leverage from Encarnacion.

With a big free agent class in 2018, I’d expect for Encarnacion to take a one year deal and look to cash in next summer before he gets too old.

The Indians love one year contracts. They won’t be tied up in a big contract long term for someone who is already 33 years old.

Because of the weak and dry market he may sign for less than normal too, also something in Cleveland’s benefit.

If the team struggles this year for whatever reason or the injury bug hits bad, the front office could always trade him to a contender and reap a good package of MLB ready prospects in return, also a big win.

Coming off a World Series appearance, the team gained extra money from the postseason which should allow them to expand their pocketbook for one year if needed.

The one big drawback would be giving up a first round pick by signing him. Cleveland prides itself on drafting but they would give up the 27thpick but draft picks are a far thing from guaranteed in baseball especially so late in the 1st round.

If the team was willing to part with four good prospects in two deals for Andrew Miller and Jonathan LuCroy last year, why should they be hesitant to give up one late first round draft pick this year for a player that can put the team over the edge?

You have to figure if he is fighting for a big contract next year he is going to do everything he can to have a big year this year. I think he will end up signing for a one year deal in the 17-19 million dollar range.

4.) Window Is Closing Quickly

I’m sorry to say this Cleveland but the opportunity for the Indians to win a World Series is going to shrink quickly.

Right now I’d say Cleveland has two solid years to win it before that window is going to really start to close. There are three reasons why I say that too.

First is the team is going to have to start spending a lot more money to keep their players or start trading the ones they can’t afford for prospects.

The same situation is kind of going on in Kansas City right now. They made back to back World Series appearances with their good young team but now that they have to start giving out big contracts to all of those players they aren’t able to afford to keep everyone.

The Indians will have a similar situation over the next two years. While a good chunk are locked up through 2020 or so, Carlos Santana is a free agent after 2017, Brantley has a 12 million dollar team option for 2018 or is a free agent after 2017, Andrew Miller will be a free agent after 2018, and then the arbitration costs for Cody Allen, Trevor Bauer, Danny Salazar, and Jose Ramirez are only going to increase each year.

That is also leaving out signing their best player Francisco Lindor to an expensive long term deal to make sure he stays.

The Indians don’t have a lot of can’t miss prospects left either to fill their places. Bradley Zimmer, the team’s number one prospect might be called up this year, but catcher Francisco Mejia and power hitting first baseman Bobby Bradley will take at least until 2018.

The only other elite level prospect, pitcher Brady Aiken is still three years away. That means what the team has now is likely their best chance with no major newcomers to stir it up.

Another reason for the window closing is the talent level in the AL, the main route for the Indians to get into the postseason and then having to win at least two series. Right now the AL is kind of in a rebuild mode.

The Yankees were major sellers at the deadline, Kansas City is in a little bit of a struggle, the White Sox are selling now, and then Toronto and Baltimore look like they will take more hits in free agency then they will bring in people.

The only two AL teams that really made strides in getting better in the offseason so far have been Houston and Boston. Houston added Josh Reddick, Carlos Beltran, and Charlie Morton, three players ranked in the top 25 free agents this year.

Boston then went ahead and got Chris Sale, one of the top pitchers in all of baseball. The AL rebuilding is a perfect chance for the Indians to strike again before the rest of the teams end their rebuild.

The Twins have one of the better farm systems in baseball and should be much better in two years. The White Sox just got a ton of prospects and shed cap with their trades this year and should be better in two years.

The Yankees also got a ton of prospects this year on top of their good farm system. Not to mention the Rangers and Astros both have top ten farm systems on top of their already playoff caliber teams.

If those prospects hit, these teams can be serious contenders in a few years.

Then there is the potential free agent class of 2018. Let’s look at names that could hit that free agent market; Bryce Harper, Manny Machado, Clayton Kershaw, AJ Pollock, Matt Harvey, Dallas Keuchel, David Price, Andrew McCutchen, Josh Donaldson, Jayson Heyward, Zach Britton, Dellin Betances, Michael Brantley, Andrew Miller, Adam Jones, Jeurys Familia, Adrian Gonzalez, Craig Kimbrel, and Nelson Cruz among others. 2018 is shaping up to be the biggest free agency year in the history of baseball.

The Indians are not a big enough market team to compete with the big boys. So while the Red Sox, White Sox, Tigers, Astros, Rangers, Blue Jays, and Yankees will be competing for these guys the

Indians will be forced to stick with what they have in 2016 and 2017. Right now it makes a lot of sense for these teams to rebuild.

They can slash their contracts for really good prospects that will be under cheap team control in 2018 and spend big money in free agency to bring in whoever else they want to compliment them.

Think about 2018 as what the Cubs are now. They rebuilt and were bad for years but had the top notch farm system and the money to bring in big free agents and now they won a World Series. Cleveland will have to beat those teams to the punch now before they might have to be the ones rebuilding.

5.) Perfect Complement

Lastly, Encarnacion is a perfect compliment to what the team already has now. I mentioned about how he is an upgrade from Santana but here is another blind comparison.

Player A: .263/.357/.529 42 HR 127 RBIs

Player B: .239/.335/.465 34 HR 101 RBIs

Player A was Encarnacion and player B was Mike Napoli in 2016. The 34 HR and 101 RBIs were both career highs for Napoli but he hit under his career average of .252.

In only one major league season has Encarnacion played in at least 100 games and hit under .252 and that was back in 2008 when he hit .251.

So in terms of the top two candidates the Indians are looking at Encarnacion wins from a batting standpoint. Encarnacion is also a pure right handed bat, something the Indians do not have a lot of with a good amount of lefties and switch hitters in their lineup.

Encarnacion is also a little younger than Napoli and if the Indians don’t want to balk on a one year offer to either Encarnacion is clearly the way to go. Edwin can play both 1B and DH just like Napoli did this year. Let’s look at a defense comparison between the three.

Mike Napoli 98 games 13 errors .985 fielding percentage -1.4 DWAR

Carlos Santana 64 games 5 errors .991 fielding percentage -1.1 DWAR

Edwin Encarnacion 75 games 2 errors .997 fielding percentage -1.2 DWAR

From those stats they are all not that great on defense but you can argue Encarnacion is actually the best of the three on defense too.

The only spot where Encarnacion gets hurt is he is credited with having less defensive range then the other two. But for asking him to mostly DH and play some 1B he can definitely fill in there without a problem.

He has all the tools you were asking from Napoli except doing it at an even higher level.

Do I think the Indians will sign Encarnacion?

My answer is probably not but I think it is the one move they should make.

Cleveland needs to capitalize on its success last year and get fans back into the ballpark consistently. Show the fans you want to go all in and win it this year and Encarnacion is the splash that can make it happen.

He fits the team and role and they have the ability to do it this year with a safety net at the trade deadline if it doesn’t work.

The clock is ticking on Cleveland’s chances so why wait? Cleveland has lived on success recently so not winning is looked at as a failure instead of looking at it as next year.

Looking at the puzzle, there is no better fit than Edwin Encarnacion in an Indians jersey for 2017.