Indians Avoid Arbitration with Brandon Guyer with Extension

When the Indians signed all of their arbitration eligible players last Friday except one, it seemed that there may have been an issue, particularly considering the extremely small differential in prices. It turns out that the two sides were simply working on something bigger as the Indians bought out both of Brandon Guyer‘s remaining arbitration eligible seasons and added an option for his first year of free agency. Jordan Bastion has the details in this tweet:

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The original projection for Guyer’s 2017 arbitration value was placed at $2M by MLBTradeRumors, but Guyer asked for $2.3M and the Indians countered with $1.9M. Seeing that he signed much closer to the Indians asking price, it would appear that Guyer has traded more money this year for the stability offered by guaranteed money next year.

For the Indians, this is tremendous news. While he was picked up as a right handed counterpart to Lonnie Chisenhall in right field, Guyer hit better than expected against righties while with the Indians, batting .348/.444/.348 while still mashing lefties at a .328/.435/.517 pace. This success against right handers was likely boosted by an unsustainable .444 BABIP, but the he has still been decent enough in his career against both sides that he doesn’t have to be removed from the game necessarily just because the other team matches up.

Defensively, Guyer has been a plus defender in all three outfield positions over his entire career, although his numbers were down in 2016. In left, he has been worth 6.5 UZR/150, 1.6 in center and 2.6 in right where he will likely log the majority of his innings over the next two years.

The best part of this deal for the Indians is that, in addition to it being very low cost, it’s that it provides the Indians with great flexibility. To a team with a payroll now skyrocketing past $100M, $250K is insignificant, so they have all the control over his 2019 season. If he continues to improve as a hitter, he could be one of the cheapest starting outfielders in baseball. If he can only hit left handed pitching, he’d be a reasonably priced platoon outfielder and if he loses it all, the Indians are only out his guaranteed $5M.

This flexibility will be particularly important next year when the Indians have to decide on Michael Brantley‘s option and Chisenhall’s fourth arbitration eligible season. Should either be too expensive, they will at least have one player to fill in the gap. With Bradley Zimmer and Greg Allen coming up, there are minor league options, but Guyer is more likely to be guaranteed production than any unknown minor leaguer. At such a low cost, this deal should benefit both sides for at least the next two seasons.