'You want free agents? You'll get Casey Kotchman and like it!'

Kotchman last year with the Rays
Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

So I've been hearing a lot of positive reaction to the Indians signing Casey Kotchman, and I've gotta say that I'm not totally in favor of this deal.

"What? Why wouldn't you want an upgrade over Matt LaPorta, someone you have constantly hammered?"


Yes, yes, I know, I don't like Lappy.

But here's the thing—is Kotchman really an improvement?

First of all, we signed him for a 1-year, $3 million deal. For most teams, that's absolute chump change. For the Indians, it's a fairly significant investment. So let's take a look at what we're getting.

Kotchman is coming off of a year where he hit a  10 home runs and 48 RBI with a career best .306 average. Can't say those stats exactly set the world on fire...although none of the Indians hitters broke .300 on their final averages last year. What's even more "blah" to me is that he only had a total 36 extra base hits in 146 games! That's 10 home runs, 24 doubles and two triples.

What's more is that in 2010, Kotchman had a pretty awful season with the Mariners, batting just .217 with 9 HR, 51 RBI, and just 20 doubles in 125 games.

Honestly, Kotchman has never been much of power hitter—he's only hit a total of 96 extra base hits over the last three seasons, and average of 32 per year. This would would be fine, but he's a corner infielder. And our other hot corner is going to be manned by either youngin' Lonnie Chisenhall or the veteran Jack Hannahan—who, as much as I absolutely love his glove, is never going to be confused for an offensive specialist.

So what am I saying here?

Well, let's take a look at the numbers of Matt LaPorta. I have never been a LaPorta apologist, and I really think he should be replaced, but for comparisons sake, let's just look at the numbers, huh?

In what can be considered his second full season, Lappy played in 107 games, hit 11 home runs, drove in 53 runs, and had 23 doubles.

Wait a second, that's 34 extra base hits in just 107 games—not even counting his one fluke triple!

...see where I'm going with this?

I know LaPorta is not that good, strikes out way more than he should, has a biological clock clicking like a time bomb at age 27, and honestly has been a terrible disappointment from the CC Sabathia trade, but are we really improving that much with Kotchman?

I don't know that we are.

To be completely honest, I'd almost rather see the kid we just bought from traded Tampa Bay for cash for, Russ Canzler, get a shot at first base. At least he's younger—only 25—and has shown that he can get some extra base hits.

But at least for now, it looks like we're going to be stuck with Kotchman.

Wow.

And since we're on the subject of free agents, correct me if I'm wrong, but I do believe that Kotchman is the only free agnet the Indians have been able to reel in on a major league deal. Yes, they've made a heck of a lot of depth moves, and that's fine with me. But...this is it, guys.

(Okay, aside from Grady Sizemore, but he was re-signed so that doesn't really count.)

However—and this is not something I was ever expecting to say—I really don't think this is the Dolan's fault.

Stay with me on this—the Indians have been reportedly interested in at least three big name free agents, and they've all said they're not interested. I'm talking about Roy Oswalt, Carlos Pena and Carlos Beltran.

According to the PD's Paul Hoynes, the Indians offered Pena a 1-year $8 million deal and got told no. They offered Beltran 2-years, $24 million and were told no from him as well. Oswalt told them no before they even got to the negotiating table.

It's not like GM Chris Antonetti isn't trying, it's just that guys don't want to come here. That's the sad reality.

Honestly, right now it looks like the only way the Indians could get a "big name" free agent to sign here is if they severely overpaid—and you know the Dolans aren't going to do that.

Do I want the Dolan's to sell the team because of that? I'm not sure. But I do know this—if the Indians can prove to the world that they can stand up to the Motor City Fat Cats (see what I did there?), they will probably have a much easier time singing free agents better than Casey freaking Kotchman next winter.

But hey, just over 60 days left till Opening Day. Can't say I'm not excited.
~MAS

Prince Fielder to the Tigers? Son of a—What do we do now?

Honestly, if you're an Indians fan, how can you have any other reaction? We just half-celebrated at the news that beloved former Indian Victor Martinez (who I will always remember how for literally being in tears after being traded from the Tribe to the Red Sox in '09. One of my all-time favorite Indians, definitely top 3) would be out all year with a torn ACL, and then we get this?!

Before you ask, "Did you really expect the Indians to be sign Prince Fielder?" my answer is absolutely not!

But I also didn't think he'd be showing up to work for the next nine years to put on a Tigers uniform, and that we'd have to pitch to him for 17 or 18 games a year.

Is that contract awful? Absolutely yes. Just as I thought about the Albert Pujols contract, nine years and $214 million is just absolutely ridiculous. How can you as an organization believe that you're going to get anything near the same kind of player at the end of that contract? Do you really want to be paying an aging star player probably $10 million more than he's worth at the end of that deal?

Probably not.

But this isn't to talk about how the Tigers will regret this contract in maybe six years. Right now this deal hurts the Indians. Badly.

And again, it's not even that I wanted Prince Fielder—although his fat self would have looked really great manning first base, I know that's completely unrealistic. But when it comes down to it, the Tigers made a hugely aggressive move in free agency to solidify themselves as the frontrunner in the AL Central for years to come. And what have the Indians done?

Well, when Fausto Carmona was revealed to be Roberto Hernandez Heredia, they traded for Kevin Slowey. And yes, I know they said they've liked Slowey for a while, but give me a freaking break, you and I both know they traded for him so swiftly because they needed depth after "Carmona" was officially out of the equation.

You see that, when the Tigers lose one of their key players, they sign someone who could have more of an impact. When the Indians lose one of their key pieces...well, they get someone who has had success in the AL Central, and has some upside, but didn't even win a game last season.

It's a damn shame, isn't it?

So here's where we are—"Carmona" is on the restricted list, which means that he doesn't count on the 25 or 40 man roster, and also doesn't get a paycheck until he reports to the organization. Based on everything I've read, that probably won't be in time for Spring Training, as the process for a visa application can take months. So what do we do?

I'll say this, the answer is not Kevin Slowey.

However, there is a player on the market named Roy Oswalt. Before you get into it about how much more expensive he is, let me just throw out a few numbers.

Because "Carmona" doesn't get paid until he shows up, if he doesn't show up at all this season, the Indians will save $7 million. Now, we've increased payroll by about $18 million just on our own players so far this offseason—and of course those depth minor league contracts. All that is well and good, but if the Dolans are going to spend when the time is right, well, the time is right now.

Oswalt will apparently look for about $7-8 million in a one year deal. I say if you shell out $16-17 million for two years for this guy, and why wouldn't he want to come here?

Even though he had a year that was fairly ravaged by injuries last season, he still made 23 starts for the Phillies going 9-10 with a 3.69 ERA. Okay, so record and ERA aren't all that they used to be with sabermetrics, and Oswalt's WHIP (Walks+Hits per Inning Pitched) was a career high 1.338, and his K/9 ratio (strike outs per nine innings) was a career low 6.0, but Oswalt has proven in the past that he's extremely durable.

The only thing holding back the Dolans from an aggressive move like this is outlined in this tweet from 92.3 The Fan's Daryl Ruiter.

The #Indians spent $111 million between Jake Westbrook, Travis Hafner & Kerry Wood - and nothing to show for it
— Daryl Ruiter (@RuiterWrongFAN) January 24, 2012

So yes, the fact of the matter is the Dolans have poorly spent in the past, but if they're serious about contending, they've got to put the best rotation possible out there—especially if they want to beat the Tigers.

I have about no faith that Ubaldo is going to pitch any better against the Tigers this year—he had 6.35 ERA against them in five starts last season—so doesn't a top three of the rotation in Masterson, Oswalt and Tomlin sound really great?

Here's hoping the Dolans stop handcuffing Indians President Mark Shapiro and GM Chris Antonetti and allow them to make a move that will show the fan base that they're actually serious about this two year contending window.