May 20, 2013

Francona: “We Don’t have a 1B, LF, or DH. But That’s Going to Change”

October 22, 2012 by 20 Comments

Indians manager Terry Francona met with Cleveland reporters for tea and crumpets today, and he decided to state the obvious and make some news all at once.

The quote comes from Jordan Bastian of MLB.com:

But Travis Hafner has an option year!!

It would seem that Francona doesn’t believe the team will look internally to fill the roster spots vacated by Hafner and Casey Kotchman. Nor should they, considering the current dearth of talent in the upper levels of the system.

In that vein, I understand that Shelley Duncan has recently filed for free agency….

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  • AlexMathews

    He also forgot to mention that we don’t have a quality #1 or #2 SP.

  • Return of the (Alex) Mack

    At least we have a manager

  • http://twitter.com/brian_ristau Brian J. Ristau

    I know I should temper my enthusiasm, but why do I think Francona is going to get some players in here? As much as I hate Youk, I’ll take him as a 1b/ DH next year. Now get a RH bat for LF And a decent return on Choo and maybe AsCab, and I’m excited for Indians baseball again.

  • matt underwood

    Ill believe it when I see it… based on track record of this organization, Im looking forward to seeing david dellucci in LF, chris gimenez at 1B, and a platoon of aaron cunningham and brent lillibridge at DH – world f*ckin series

  • Wow

    Face it, this team will be bad for at least 2 more years.

  • TeddyRoos

    Wow, you can tell Lil Tito hasn’t been around very long. Yeah, it’ll change. Like changing the deck chairs on the Titanic. Hafner replaced by Vinny Rottino. Kotchman by Erik Hinske. Then lets bring 50 yr old Jamie Moyer to fix our starter problem.

  • SDA

    Wish I could share your enthusiasm. All I see is an owner that is a bargain basement shopper that wants to find lightning in a bottle

  • Natedawg86

    Can we get a lot more for Choo during the winter than we possibly could during the trade deadline? I know that does not help us coming into next year, but are we going to be able to compete in 2013?

  • Natedawg86

    1B – Pena, Swisher
    LF – Lee, M. Cabrera, Quentin, Pierre

  • mgbode

    oh, I wanna play.

    1B/3B/DH: Youk ($10mil over 2 seasons)
    OF: Pagan ($14mil over 2 seasons – shift Brantley to LF)
    1B/DH: Mike Napoli ($20mil over 2 seasons)

    3B: Chisenhall and Youk
    1B: Napoli and Santana (and Youk at times)
    DH: whoever isn’t playing above

    This adds $22mil/season onto the payroll. That only leaves ~$10mil left to go after a SP3 (we don’t have the $$ for a SP1). My first target is Joe Blanton, but the Dodgers may want to keep him.

    I’d be willing to go 3 years on Pagan or Napoli as well at those rates to get them. I would not be willing on Youk.

  • mgbode

    it might helps us in ’13 if we are smart though. see the A`s trade last offseason of Gio.

    normally, I’d say that we would get more in the offseason, but Justin Upton has more years of control and a higher upside (and a much lower floor). There are also some quality (but not great) FA OF options. It depends on how that all plays out. If an Upton trade goes down and the FA options dry up quickly, then you can always get a team willing to do something “big” late.

  • Vindictive_Pat

    Not necessarily tied to this, but what do you think about getting Carrasco back? He’s got good stuff… wonder if he could ever be our #1?

  • mgbode

    not in 2013. he’s coming off a major injury and he was still learning MLB when he went down. My hope for him is that he is a quality SP3 with an ERA ~4.0 for ~120IP.

    Those numbers are not pulled out of the air. That is what he did in 2011 (xFIP & IP). If he can replicate that coming back from this injury, then he’s got a very nice future with us.

    Let’s hope Tabasco shows up to play.

  • Vindictive_Pat

    I would be very happy with that level of play. It’s also nice to see that guys are having really good success in coming back from Tommy John surgery these days, even in the season after the injury. Here’s hoping he was studying up during his rehab time instead of watching Spongebob Squarepants all day.

  • Kildawg

    Might want to have C. Lee at 1B and Swisher in the OF. M.Cabrera may want to leave his PEDs in SF to come here. No Pierre, we have a younger, better version in Carrera. Don’t think we can pry Quentin from SD.

  • The_Real_Shamrock

    I like Pagan would rather give him more years then Napoli. I also liked LaRoche at 1B he’s a lefty but if you could add Napoli and perhaps Youkilis that’s a pair of righties. The rotation needs more of an upgrade then Blanton that’s probably just as big an issue as anything. But hey at least Francona sees the black holes as well.

  • The_Real_Shamrock

    Quentin resigned in SD but I’d take Melky even after his bust. I always liked him and can’t believe his performance was completely PED related.

  • Roosevelt

    Can’t wait to be introduced to Zack Lutz, Adam Dunn, and Shelley Duncan, who is revitalized, this time we promise!
    I look forward to two years from now when Francona realizes that his two year stint with the Indians made him as employable as a third tier law school graduate with a felony.

  • Ryan

    How about not picking up options on Hafner, Jimenez and Hernandez. Puts us at $52MM in payroll. Move C. Perez for Trumbo of LAA or even up for Harang LAD. If Trumbo move Choo and Masterson for Shields of TB. Choo replaces Upton for a year and Masterson can go SP or RP for Rays.
    FA Swisher at 1B, OF, DH at $10-12MM per year in multi year deal and Hairston NYM FA for $2-3 for a year for OF.
    $65 MM – same as 2012 and stronger team.

  • mgbode

    we would be below that $52mil number I think.

    -$5mil for Lowe
    -$10mil for Hafner (after buyout option)
    -$4mil for Ubaldo (after buyout option – ain’t happening though)
    -$5mil for Grady
    -$3mil for Kotchman
    -$2.5mil for Slowey/Damon
    -$2.5mil for Carmona-Hernandez

    Total Savings: $32mil

    Add in a bunch of arbitration raises (including Choo, Perez, etc.) and That eats into the number (maybe half of it…$16mil?).

    $65mil 2012 payroll
    -$32mil contracts to get rid of
    +$16mil in arbitration raises
    = $49mil in 2013 payroll (and that’s giving BIG arb. raises. It’s probably closer to $45mil)

    Now, if we trade Perez (not getting Trumbo though) and Choo, then that’s another $15mil or so off the books