The Indians signed 8 year veteran first baseman Casey Kotchman to a one year deal today worth a reported $3 million. The Indians have been linked to Kotchman all off season because signing him made more sense than any other player. Along with his cheap price, his defensive talent is what really makes this a good deal. Offensively, he is worth about the same as Matt LaPorta, giving up a little power for greater consistency at the plate, but defensively, there is a huge difference. In three seasons, LaPorta has made more errors at first (12) than Kotchman has in his entire eight year career (11). A strong defense looks to be a major part of the Indians strategy going into 2012 with a great bullpen and above average defensive players at every position. First base is especially important, because if Asdrubal is going to keep making plays like these, he can't be worried about whether or not the first baseman is going to catch the ball.

Kotchman had the best offensive season of his career last year, breaking into the top ten in the American League in batting average and on base percentage. Most people probably remember him from his time with the Angels, but he has moved around a lot of late, playing with the Braves, Red Sox, Mariners and finally Tampa Bay in 2011. Since this is just a one year deal, it will allow Matt LaPorta to go back to AAA Columbus to try to find his swing, while allowing him a light at the end of the tunnel. If somehow he can get back to the way he used to play in the minors, the starting firstbaseman's job for 2013 could still be his. Either way, Indians fans can finally relax as the question mark that has been sitting on first all season has been replaced by a Kotchmanmark. 

Mike Garcia came on strong for the Indians in 1949, the year after their last championship, and took fourth place for the AL Rookie of the Year. He kept it going as well, staying in the starting rotation from then until 1957. Most impressively, from 1951 to 1954, he never had less than 18 wins or an ERA worse than 3.25. During those seasons he was part of the Indians big four rotation along with Bob Feller, Early Wynn and Bob Lemon. This rotation was the best in the league at the time and the best in Indians history. In 1949 and 1954 Garcia lead the AL in ERA and received votes for MVP three of four years between 1951 and 1954. In 1951, the best season for this rotation as a unit, the Indians had three starters rank in the MVP voting (Feller, 5; Wynn, 16 and Garcia, 22) earning 158 vote points between them. Indians second baseman Bobby Avila and outfielder Dale Mitchell also ranked in the top 28 that season.

Over his career, he was one of only ten Indians to reach the 2,000 innings pitched mark. He is also in the top ten in career wins, games played, starts and strike outs. His 96 losses are the least among pitchers with at least 125 wins giving him a winning percent of almost 60%. Mike Garcia was entered into the Cleveland Indians Hall of Fame in 2007.

The relief market is well known for unusual activity during the off-season. For example, the Philadelphia Phillies made a head-turning move with its signing of Jonathan Papelbon to a four-year, $50 million contract this year. Since then, Philadelphia’s former closer, Ryan Madson, signed a one-year deal worth around $8 million with the  Reds — and their former, former closer, Brad Lidge, just just a one-year, $1 million agreement with the Nationals.

In addition to those three relievers just mentioned, Matt Capps received a $4.75 million salary to return to the Twins, and Fernando Rodney got $2 million from the Moneyball Rays. But one of the few relievers who could not find a guaranteed contract was Dan Wheeler, who signed a minor league contract with the Tribe last week.

Wheeler re-joined the Rays in late 2007 after spending a few seasons with the Mets and the Astros. As a member of the Rays’ bullpen, Wheeler posted descending xFIP marks — beginning in 2008 with a 4.50 xFIP, but ending with a nice 3.72 in 2010.

Following the mass exodus from the Rays’ pen after the 2010 season, Wheeler landed with their American League East rival Boston Red Sox on a one-year, $3 million deal. While his ERA jumped a full run with Boston last year, his FIP dropped from 4.11 to 3.78 — and his xFIP dropped to 3.71.

A right-handed reliever with a fastball that lives around 89 mph, Wheeler has historically struggled with the long ball as well as going against the platoon split. His career HR/FB rate of 10.2% is significant for a reliever with a 45.5% flyball rate. Versus lefties, he has a 4.73 career xFIP (3.53 versus righties) and allowed a slash line of .275/.341/.487 (AVG/OBP/SLG.)

Rays manager Joe Maddon did his best to control the platoon issue by limiting Wheeler’s exposure to left-handed batters. After using Wheeler against lefties 39% of the time in 2008, Maddon had him face them 29% in 2009 and just 23% in 2010. In fact, Wheeler pitched with the platoon advantage more than any other reliever in 2010 (minimum 40 innings).

For whatever reason, former Red Sox manager Terry Francona decided to increase Wheeler’s usage against lefties last year and had him face a left-handed batters nearly 40% of the time. Although he fared slightly better than his career numbers against the split, his K/BB rate dropped from a ridiculous 13.50 versus righties to 2.0 versus lefties. He actually allowed a higher HR/FB rate versus right-handers  though his 3.37 xFIP suggests it could have been a blip on the radar.

While Wheeler did not have a pile of saves heading into free agency, one could argue that he has been a better pitcher than a number of others who have guaranteed paychecks in 2012. In the past three years, Wheeler’s 3.84 xFIP is lower than several notable right-handed relievers: Octavio Dotel (3.85), Matt Capps(3.99) , Kerry Wood (4.08), Francisco Cordero (4.18), Jon Rauch (4.38, and Fernando Rodney (4.52) , who all signed one-year, major-league deals totaling $21.25 million this off-season.

Despite having a decent year which warrented a lengthy contract, Wheeler joins the Indians with no guarantees. One rather large piece of information left out thus far is that the 34-year-old Wheeler was shut down in early September with right forearm stiffness. Although he has avoided major injury and averaged 61 appearances and 62 innings each season since 2003, that type of injury could scare off potential suitors. On the flip side, Joel Zumaya — who hasn’t thrown a meaningful pitch since June of 2010 — got a low-risk, major-league deal with the Twins just a few weeks ago.

Maybe Wheeler’s medical records are a bit worse than they appear, or maybe teams are wary of putting his home-run rate in high-leverage situations. Whatever the reason, the lack of interest could pay dividends for the Tribe if Wheeler is both healthy and Manny Acta uses him to his strengths. If those things pan out, Wheeler could be a bargain in an unpredictable relief market. Much like Chad Bradford was to the A's.  

(All stats courtesy of Baseball Prospectus)

Dan Wheeler: 2012 Bullpen Mafia don? Maybe

Ken Keltner was a great player for the Tribe at a position that has not had many greats over the teams history (he is on the list of top 10 Indians third basemen). Keltner owned the hot corner during the Indians most successful season (1948) and the decade prior to that. For his career, he leads all Indians third basemen in games played, at bats, runs, hits, doubles, runs batted in, total bases and walks. He is second in both triples and home runs. He is even in the top ten of everyone in games, at bats, hits, doubles and runs batted in. He is in the top five all time in total bases.

Keltner wasn't just a player who played at a mediocre player for a really long time either. Along with his seven all-star appearances, Ken was a doubles machine, hitting more than 20 in nine separate seasons and more than 30 in six seasons. His career high was 41 in 1944. In 1948, after two down seasons, Keltner came back to have his best year ever and power the Tribe to the World Series while playing next to player/manager Lou Boudreau. Ken Keltner has been enshrined in the Indians Hall of Fame (class of 1951), but was unable to get even one percent of the vote for the baseball Hall of Fame. He died in 1991 in his home state of Wisconsin.

This is the latest installment of "Indians Arguments" where the two writers for Burning River Baseball get together and calmly discuss different aspects of the Cleveland Indians and baseball in general. Today's subject is the state of the 2012 outfield.

Joe: Today we will be discussing the Cleveland Indians outfield going into 2012. We will be going through the starters, the bench, the up-and-comers and some expectations.

Mike: We are assuming the Indians wont sign [Yoennis] Cepedes?

Joe: You can assume whatever you want. For my part, I'm going to guess all significant free agent signings are done.

Mike: The big question really is, what type of year will Grady [Sizemore] have? Will he play 130 games? In my opinion the outfield will solidify itself on what he does.

Joe: And where will he play? Everything I've seen to this point has the Indians insisting on him starting in centerfield, but I've yet to be convinced he can handle the position and definitely think he is significantly worse defensively than [Michael] Brantley, [Ezequiel] Carrera or [Trevor] Crowe. My prediction is that he will be moved to left before the All-Star break if they can't admit it before then.

Mike: But would Brantley take over in center? I would think that if they were convinced he was ready, he would have played center after Grady went down last year. but i agree with you, moving forward Grady is a better fit for left or DH. They added more depth in [Thomas] Neal and [Aaron] Cunningham because they agree with us, I think.

Joe: They added a lot of depth in the off-season. Not just those guys, but Felix Pie, Fred Lewis and Ryan Spilborghs as well. I only hope that they will not make the same mistake they make every year by signing one of these guys. There is not a single player among them with more upside than Carrera or Crowe.

Mike: I don't see the upside that Carrera has. I think what you saw last season from him was his ceiling. If he was any better, they would not have re-signed Grady.

Joe: I'm not saying he's the next Tris Speaker, I'm just saying I have no confidence in the new guys. I would prefer them to put more time into guys like Neal and the others previously mentioned, rather than waste Spring Training at bats on Travis Buck and Jason Michaels.

Mike: Do you think [Shin-Soo] Choo is done crying over his DUI? There is another very important guy. A five tool player when healthy, OBP machine. I firmly believe a healthy Choo is the missing bat the Indians were looking for all off-season.

Joe: Choo is the base for the entire outfield. Even at last year's standards, he's the best offensive and defensive player in the outfield. Hopefully he will return to his old form, but I think he is the least of our worries. That is, of course, unless his real name is Shin Jong Il and he's really a 45 year old dictator.

Joe: Back on Topic. Who do you have as fourth and possibly fifth outfielder, with the starting spots taken by Grady, Choo and Brantley?

Mike: Great question. Can I cop out and say we'll just let spring training sort that out? They need right-handed pop so [Shelley] Duncan is probably safe to start the year in Cleveland. After that you might want to keep an eye on Aaron Cunningham. He was a highly touted prospect with the A's and still has show the ability to draw the walk (.331 OBP in 2010 in the pitcher park in SD) not bad for a fifth outfielder.

Joe: I agree about Duncan, but his defense makes it necessary for another outfielder who can actually field. I really want to see Trevor Crowe get his last chance to make it this year. If for some reason he can't cut it, I'd be open to some of the other options, but not Pie.

Mike: Carrera is a younger version of Pie.

Joe: Exactly. Why would you play the old version when you have the new version.

Mike: Depth, bro. It's what killed this team last year. Sign a bunch of MLB ready outfielders at league minimum just in case. it's not a bad plan really. Columbus should win another title.

Joe: And that is the most important thing isn't it? The Clippers winning International League Championships.

Mike: It's a healthy by-product!

Joe: And this concludes our discussion on the Indians outfield, stay tuned next week for our pleasant conversation about the Tribe infield.

9. Scott Barnes, LHP
DOB: 11/5/87
Height/Weight: 6-4/185
Bats/Throws: L/L
Drafted/Signed: Eighth round, 2008, St. John’s University
2011 Stats: 1.64 ERA (11-5-2-17) at Double-A (2 G); 3.68 ERA (88-80-34-90) at Triple-A (16 G)
Tools Profile: He has a solid three-pitch mix from the left side.

Year in Review: This southpaw was on the verge of the big leagues before he injured his knee.
The Good: Barnes throws strikes with three pitches. His fastball sits in the low 90s and has a bit of natural movement. His best secondary offering is a slider that is average to a tick above. He has confidence to use his average changeup at any point in the count. Everything about his game plays up due to his command, his left-handedness, and some deception in his delivery.
The Bad: Very little about Barnes is overwhelming. While his arsenal is deep and doesn’t have a weakness, he also lacks a true go-to plus offering that will consistently miss big-league bats. He doesn't have much projection, and multiple scouts think he's already maxed out.
Cool Fact: Barnes was a third-round pick in 2005 by the Nationals out of Cathedral High in Springfield, Massachusetts. The only other player ever drafted out of that school is fellow lefty Chris Capuano. He was brought over from the Giants organization in the Ryan Garko trade in 2008.
Perfect World Projection: He could be a solid fourth starter.
Fantasy Impact: Waiver wire pick-up.
Path to the Big Leagues: Barnes spent the offseason recovering from knee surgery, but he should be ready on Opening Day. He'll begin the year back at Columbus, but should see the big leagues at some point during the season.
ETA: Depends on whether Roberto Heredia makes an appearance. Late this year.

You can watch Scott pitch below, courtesy of Tony Lastoria at Indians Prospect Insider.

Here are Scotts minor league stats, courtesy of Fan Graphs.

Kenny Lofton has played for a lot of teams, eleven total, including three different stints on the Indians, but everyone knows that he is first and foremost a Cleveland Indian. Most impressively, Kenny has played in the post season in eleven years with six different teams. Starting in 1995, the only years he missed playing in the postseason were in 2000 and 2005, yet he only made two World Series appearances (1995 and 2002) during his career and never earned a ring. During his time with the Indians in the postseason he was especially impressive. He leads all Indians all time with 34 runs scored and 23 steals in the postseason. He is in the top five in every other counting stat except doubles. The steals are the most impressive since Omar Vizquel is the only other Indian to have more than three all time.

In 1991 the Indians acquired Lofton in a trade with the Astros for Willie Blair and Eddie Taubensee, this trade was a steal and was very important in setting up the powerful core of the 1990's Indians offense. Lofton combined with the emergance of Albert Belle, the drafting of Jim Thome and Manny Ramirez and trades for Carlos Baerga, Sandy Alomar and Omar Vizquel to make the most potent offense in Indians history. In 1996, when Lofton thought he was immovable, he was traded to the Braves for Marquis Grissom and David Justice in another great move that helped the Indians get back to the World Series in 1997. Justice stuck around a few years and produced far beyond what was necessary and Lofton resigned with the Tribe in 1998 as a free agent, so nothing was lost. In fact, Justice was traded to the Yankees at the end of his career for a young pitcher named Jake Westbrook, so Lofton trades were basically responsible for ten years of Lofton, four years of Justice and nine years of Westbrook.

In 2007 with the Indians looking at winning the Central Division for the first time since 2001, the Indians decided to bring the old favorite back and traded Maxamiliano Ramirez (a minor league catcher) to Texas for him. With center field and lead off filled by Grady Sizemore, Kenny Lofton got to know a new area of Jacob's Field as he played left field and batted seventh.

Playing for the Indians for a decade, Lofton has certainly left his marks on the record books. He is in the top ten in career at bats and hits and the top five in runs scored. In Cleveland they might as well rename the steal a "Kenny" since he has almost 200 more than the next best speedster. He is also second all time in stolen base percentage behind only Roberto Alomar, who only spent three years with the team. Along with the career records, Lofton holds the single season record as well along with four of the top five best seasons and six of the top ten. Going along with his speedy reputation, Lofton was also an amazing fielder, winning a Gold Glove in each of his first four full seasons with the Tribe. He also once won defensive play of the year for a home run stealing catch.

Kenny Lofton has already been enshrined in the Cleveland Indians Hall of Fame and should be considered one of the greatest centerfielders in Indians history.

In a move no one really saw coming, Prince Fielder has reportedly agreed to a nine-year, $214 million deal with the Detroit Tigers. This impacts the Central division in a big way; not just this season but for years to come. He now returns to the city where his father, Cecil Fielder, made a name for himself in the 1990's. We will discuss the signing implications in this article.

Everything that held true for Albert Pujols' contract -- great for the team in the short term, very risky in the long term -- holds true for Fielder and the Tigers as well. He'll add a little less value in the next year or two than Pujols will to the LA Angels, but I like Fielder's chance to hold value deeper into his contract because, at 28 this year, he's five years younger than Pujols. That said, Fielder's still a corner position player with no speed and no defensive value, a player profile that ages very poorly, and he is going to have to get his weight under control if he wants to be a productive player in the back half of this deal, even though there's no financial incentive for him to do so.

The Tigers recently lost our old friend Victor Martinez for the season with a torn ACL, and that injury cost them three to four wins of value, a range that assumes he would have been the regular DH and occasional catcher without missing any significant time during the season. But adding Fielder more than makes up for what they lost in Martinez's bat, giving them probably an 800 to 825 run offense that should be among the three best in the league when you consider their home ballpark. I think they would have won the weakened American League Central without Fielder, but with him, their odds have increased. He helps make up for the fact that the Tigers' farm system has just one impact hitting prospect, Nick Castellanos, a third baseman -- which is still an area of need for the big club -- who is three years away from the majors.

The Tigers' problem in the short term is where to play everyone. Miguel Cabrera is an indifferent first baseman, but is probably a better option there than Fielder. Delmon Young shouldn't be allowed to play the outfield, and even if he was, the Tigers might prefer to play Ryan Raburn and Brennan Boesch in the corners since Young walks about twice a month. They could put Raburn at second and Young in left, Cabrera at third and just punt defense entirely, hoping to bludgeon opponents into submission, although I wouldn't recommend it. Playing Fielder at first and Cabrera at third would be defensive self-immolation. The best solution might be to have Fielder and Cabrera share time at first base to keep both bats in the lineup as often as possible, since the risk of knee problems for, um, "husky" players is probably tied not just to age but to time standing at a position.

In the long term, of course, this contract won't end any better than Pujols'. It's hard to envision Fielder still producing five wins a year of value at age 36, although I can picture that more easily than I can see Pujols producing that much at 42. But the Tigers are coming off a division title they're likely to repeat in 2012, and there was no better option on the market to help keep them the favorites in this year or next and to increase (however slightly) their chances of advancing to the World Series. It's the type of moral-hazard-laced decision MLB general managers make all the time: If the Tigers' current front office is still in charge as Fielder's contract enters its final years, the team has probably won a championship or two by that point, justifying the deal; if they don't win, it'll be someone else's mess to clean up. And by Years 8 and 9, a mess it will almost certainly be. (Also worth noting that owner Mike Illitch is 82 years old and this move is a sign that he wants to win sooner rather than later.)

The good news, if there is any, for Indians fans is with the the addition of Derek Lowe and the remaining starting rotation of Justin Masterson, Ubaldo Jimenez and "Fausto Carmona", we should expect the starting rotation to keep Fielder in the ballpark. All of the aforementioned pitchers specialize in forcing hitters to hit the ball on the ground At least we can hope in theory. Does this raise the stakes for the Tribe to trade for a 1B, such as Justin Smoak or Logan Morrison? We shall see. Stay tuned.

New Tigers 1B/DH Prince Fielder. Will add tremendous value in the early years, very bad value toward the end.

Jim Hegan was the longest tenured position player in Indians history, catching games for the Tribe from 1941 until 1957. In 1946 he became the starting catcher, putting an end to the revolving wheel of catchers that occurred after Frankie Pytlak left the team. He remained the starting catcher until 1957 when he returned to his reserve role right before leaving the team. In 1958 Hegan became part of Frank Lane's fire sale when he was traded to the Tigers along with Hank Aguirre for Jay Porter and Hal Woodeschick. 

Along with his 5 All-Star appearances and lengthy career, Hegan has one other interesting note. He was one of only two starting position players to play in both the 1948 and 1954 World Series. While his postseason numbers are far below his regular season averages, he did manage to hit a home run and knock in five runs during the Indians last championship season. Hegan caught every game of that series and his five RBI were more than any other player on the team that year.

Jim Hegan managed to hang around so long, that even while playing catcher (his career high in games played in a season was in 1949 with 152) he currently ranks fourth all time in career games played as an Indian. All three players ahead of him were top of the lineup, middle infielders, making his durability even more impressive. Jim died at the age of 63 and has since been memorialized in the Indians Hall of Fame. His son, Mike Hegan, was a Major League first baseman and is a current member of the Cleveland Indians radio broadcast team.

The Indians pitcher we all know as Fausto Carmona was arrested today in the Dominican Republic for using a false identity. Apparently, the "28 year-old" is actually 31, and his name is not really Fausto Carmona, it is Roberto Hernandez Heredia. Officials in the Dominican Republic discovered this identity falsification when "Fausto" applied for a vista to return back to the States to play ball.

What does this mean for the Indians? Currently, this is unknown. The Indians could take legal action against Carmona because his contract is based on that of a 28 year-old and he is indeed three years older, meaning his career is further along than they once thought. As of right now, the Indians are not commenting on the situation. Carmona currently exercised a $7 million option for 2012 and also has club options for 2013 and 2014. There is also uncertainty if Carmona will be able to report for Spring Training and what impact this will have on his 2012 season.

*Information taken from Indians.com "Carmona Arrested for Using False Identity"