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.
Recent Comments