Comedifans Post-Game - Episode 051

On Episode 51 of "Comedifans," I mentioned that I had sent an e-mail to Terry Pluto about the decision making of the Cleveland Indians this off-season. Below is that e-mail from December 12 (prior to our signing of Nick Swisher for 4 years, $56 million) in its entirety and my perspective on the Indians potentially being able to benefit from signing players with a history of performance-enhancing drug usage:

Dear Terry,

The Blue Jays signed Melky Cabrera to a 2-year, $16 million deal.
Cabrera hit .346 with 11 HR and 60 RBI before his suspension for PEDs
and subsequently never returning to the field for the Giants. On the
flip side, the Indians signed Mark Reynolds to a 1-year, $6 million
deal. Reynolds played 135 games, hitting .221 with 23 HR and 69 RBI.
Now, I know that we're dealing with two different positions with these
players, but I don't understand why the Indians didn't make a stronger
push for Cabrera given what they did end up signing, traded for, or
are currently pursuing with their limited free agent money.

Even if Cabrera is off the PEDs (hopefully for his sake), since 2006,
he's never hit lower than .249 whereas Reynolds's highest batting
average was his rookie season at .279. With the front office
inevitably knowing they were going to deal Choo, why not plug that
potential hole with Cabrera? Even if Cabrera has an off year due to
being off PEDs or the pressure involved with that layoff, he's never
dipped to Reynolds's level batting-wise, and with a team that would be
better suited to get contact hitters, he would fit right in.

This brings to me a bigger philosophical issue. Why don't the Indians
just go after players in free agency with past PED issues in their
offseasons? Take a look at Cabrera as an example. He's coming off a
great year and was the All-Star MVP. That can all be attributed to his
positive PED test results. So, teams will be able to get him at a
cheaper rate than they would have this offseason (as Toronto did).
Just as Toronto did (and the Indians could have done), you give
Cabrera a one or two-year deal. Now, for Cabrera, he has to prove that
he can play to the potential that he did last year without PEDs and
he'll try to work hard to get the big payday with another team after
the one or two-year deal is done. Even if he doesn't pan out to the
level he played with for the Giants, I expect the Blue Jays will still
get market value out of him (let's say that Cabrera does a general
average of all his years in the majors and hits .270, has 10 HR and 70
RBI. In today's market, that's worth $8 million). Let's say that
Cabrera chooses to stick with PEDs, and repeats the type of season he
had with the Giants, but then fails another test and now has a
100-game suspension. Now this is an assumption, but I would presume
that the Indians organization would not have to pay Cabrera during the
100 games that he's suspended (fulfills Dolan "fiscal
responsibility"!). To me, the risk with a PED guy like Cabrera can
only net the market expectation if not lead to a higher value out of
him, and even if he does get hit with a second punishment, the team is
not hurt financially. I'd rather watch a guy hit .300 for a certain
amount of time then get a 100-game suspension than to watch a guy
hitting for the fences and bat .220 over that same period of time.

Some may say that this is not an ethical approach to pursue players
with previous PED issues, but some may also say it is not an ethical
approach for Mark Shapiro to tell fans that if we want winning, we
shouldn't come to the stadium.

I just feel that a Cabrera signing would have been far better for the
Indians than going after players like Reynolds. Our offense needs help
and we have our ownership limits financially. But I feel that we can
get that by grabbing contact hitters that might be available to
balance our lineup and actually have rallies with base hits rather
than guys with low averages who may hit hard but mostly produce
strikeouts (both Reynolds and the recent acquisition of Drew Stubbs).

I like our approach to netting the best pitching prospects that we can
because pitching is what wins championships, especially for a small
market team that needs to sell its talent now. But, I just don't
understand where we're going in regards to our line-up and its future
philosophically.

Sincerely,

Sumukh Torgalkar

Comedifans - Episode 051

Sumukh and Golak, The Original Recipe Crew, are off hiatus! The duo comes back strong and talks Browns, Indians, MLB free agency, Sumukh's new "Moneyball," Basketball, and short lived NBA big men.

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