Yonder Alonso will take over at first base for the Tribe.
Cleveland has found its replacement at first base for Carlos Santana, who signed a 3-year, $60 million deal with the Phillies earlier this week. Former Mariner, A, Padre, and Red, Yonder Alonso inked a 2-year, $16 million deal with an $8 million team option for 2020 on Thursday. I for one think this is a great deal for the Tribe. While Santana was a fan favorite, Alonso had very similar numbers to Santana in 2017 and will be playing in Cleveland for $12 million less per year than Santana will be in Philadelphia. And that is money the Indians will desperately need as both key pieces of the back-end of the Tribe bullpen are free agents after this year: Andrew Miller and Cody Allen.
Alonso is not as good defensively as Santana, but offensively the Indians may not skip a beat. Last year Alonso slashed .266/.365/.501 with 28 HRs and 67 RBIs. Granted, the highest home run total he had prior to 2017 was 9 in 2012. The question is whether that burst in power was a one-year fluke or he figured out something with his swing that will allow him to be one of the best values in baseball for the next couple of seasons. The other aspect of his game to watch out for is that he struggles against left-handed pitching, hitting only .234 on his career against lefties as compared to .274 against righties.
Santana went for .259/.363/.455 with 23 HRs and 79 RBIs in 2017. Unlike Alonso, Santana’s numbers were right in line with his career averages. Cleveland will not be able to rely on Santana’s consistency but may have found a player who is just hitting his prime on the cheap. Only time will tell.
Yes, it would have been nice to have Santana back, but that’s the price you pay for Edwin Encarnacion hitting in the middle of your lineup. There is a very real shot that 2018 is the last real chance at an Indians World Series with extremely young and talented rosters in Houston and New York only getting better and key veteran contracts starting to expire over the next 3 seasons. Signing Alonso is a little bit of a roll of the dice, but a necessary one as the Indians make what could be one last run until the young crop of Greg Allen, Bradley Zimmer, Mike Clevinger, and Francisco Mejia are ready to lead the team by about the 2020 season.
Take note, this may not be the last move the Indians make this offseason as both Danny Salazar and Jason Kipnis have been rumored to be on the trading block. Santa may be coming down a couple chimneys with new Indians caps for a few players.
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- Cleveland Indians
- Yonder Alonso
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