The Cleveland Indians agreed to a contract with free agent Edwin Encarnacion. Terry Pluto notes how well the Indians played this deal:
But suddenly, the huge spending for big bats just stopped.
Meanwhile, the Indians had targeted Encarnacion as the kind of acquisition that could help them return to the World Series.
But they were not going to spring for a four-year deal.
So they kept talking to his agent, and also kept waiting before settling on a three-year, $60 million deal with a fourth-year option for $25 million.
The Indians probably could have signed Mike Napoli to some type of two-year deal. Or they could have settled for someone such as Chris Carter or Adam Lind on a one-year contract.
But they wanted more.
They wanted an impact hitter for the next few seasons. The front office also was armed with extra cash from the Dolan family.
The Indians got off cheap. I’d expect Encarnacion to provide about 10.8 WAR over three years, 13.7 WAR over four years. That’s $5.55 million per WAR for the three year deal, $6.2 million per WAR for the four year deal. There is a big risk for the Indians, however, as Encarnacion will play 2017 as a 34-year-old. At that age, a career can go south at any time. If Cleveland gets one four-WAR season and a World Championship it will be worth it. This is not the time for Cleveland to hold back. They barely lost to the Cubs in the World Series. It’s time to go to the next level.
from baseballmusings.com http://ift.tt/2inw2Ud
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