According to the Associated Press, the Cleveland Indians signed free agent first baseman Casey Kotchman to a one-year, $3 million contract on Thursday, Feb. 2.
I wish I could get exited about this deal, but after seeing free agent first basemen like Albert Pujols and Prince Fielder go to other American League teams this offseason, the late free agent addition of Kotchman feels like an arbitrary move at best.
Kotchman had a great year in 2011. He hit for a .306 batting average with 48 RBIs. Sounds great until you see that despite a great year in 2011, Kotchman's career batting average is .268 and his career slugging percentage is .398.
This move was a reactionary move to the poor play of youngster Matt LaPorta. The Tribe can't allow a position usually reserved for power hitters to be occupied by a guy hitting .247 like LaPorta did last season, but to spend $3 million on Kotchman, whose career batting average is only slightly higher than LaPorta's, is a ridiculous waste of money coming from a front office that always seems to be strapped for cash.
This pickup is a bandage solution to a gaping wound that goes much deeper than a starting first baseman.
It's easy to blame club owner Larry Dolan for not spending enough money in the free agent market, but if you look at some of the big contracts that the Indians have awarded in recent years to mediocre players, you understand why there isn't a lot of cash to go around.
For example, the highest paid player this season will be Travis Hafner, who is due $13 million in 2012. That's a lot of money to pay to a player who will be 35 years old this summer and who spends more time in the hospital than on the field.
The good news is some of the dead-weight contract players like Hafner and Fausto Carmona have club options for 2013 on their contracts. After 2013, all of the Indians' big-contract guys will either be free agents or in arbitration. Most teams would call these rebuilding years, but it hurts when the club seems to always be in a rebuilding year.
Kristian Eberwein is a freelance sports writer from Akron, Ohio, and lifetime Cleveland Indians fan. He has a B.A. in English from the University of Central Florida, and has been a fixture at MLB spring training and regular season games for the last decade.
